


Even the Darkest Nights

by LadyWallace



Series: Worth Fighting For [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Meg is part of TFW, Megstiel - Freeform, No Slash, Season 9 AU, Torture, Wings, conflicted Meg, demon headcanons, established megstiel, pretty much everyone gets whumped at some point, season 8 AU, some sex but offscreen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-08-14 13:42:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16493663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyWallace/pseuds/LadyWallace
Summary: Sequel to "Worth Fighting For"—It's been several months since Sam and Meg rescued Dean and Cas from Purgatory and Meg is trying to make a new life for herself with Castiel. But with Abbadon on the rise, all of them are back at war, with scars that they will all have to overcome before they'll have a chance of winning. TFW, Megstiel





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay guys, so I know several of you have been waiting for this for a long time. First of all, this is a sequel to my story "Worth Fighting For" and if you haven't read that one, you may want to before diving in to this.
> 
> Here's a recap of what happened in that story for those of you who need a refresher: An AU starting right after they killed Dick Roman and Dean and Cas got blow to Purgatory, Sam and Meg team up to get them back. Meanwhile in Purgatory, Cas starts coming back around to himself and after a lot of peril, leading to Meg being captured by Crowley, Sam is able to get into Purgatory and find Dean and Cas just as they find the portal Benny told them about where they could escape. Cas gets out with them, but when he finds out Crowley has Meg, they go to rescue her (which leads to love confessions). Unfortunately, the angels find out Castiel is back and capture him and Meg and drag them to Naomi. Naomi brainwashes Cas, which leads to him almost killing Meg and the Winchesters before Meg is able to snap Cas out of it and he kills Naomi. They're all a little damaged, but they're safe for now and decide that what they really need in a vacation.
> 
> This story takes place six months after the first one, picking up at the point in Season 8 where Abbadon comes through the time portal with Henry, so this is a combination AU of Season 8 and 9. Meg is now living with TFW at the bunker and her and Cas are in an established relationship.
> 
> (There's also a small mention of the other story in this verse "As You Wish" but that was written as a standalone.)

_Meg was in a dark building, looking for a way out. Every time she turned into a new corridor or went through a door, there was only another hallway in her path, endless, dark, and she was completely lost._

_"Hello?" she called finally, frustration and trepidation overcoming her better judgment. "Castiel?"_

_She started running, and flung open another door, and this time she did find someone._

_Naomi._

_The angel who had kidnapped them and tried to brainwash Cas was standing right there in front of her, smirking._

_"You," Meg snarled. "You're dead."_

_"Am I?" Naomi asked. "Because I think I'm still there. Inside you. Inside Castiel—you really think a few months of recovery can truly erase what I did to him?"_

_"Stabbing you in the throat helped," Meg said firmly, reaching for a blade, but she had none._

_"You think I'm the worst thing that's ever happened to him, but you're wrong," Naomi said, stalking toward her, a smug expression on her face. "You are the worst thing that happened to him. You may as well have let me have him because he will be lost eventually if he stays with you." Meg's back hit a wall and Naomi crowded into her. "You're just a demon, Meg, a filthy, perverted, human soul. You cannot hope to touch anything without destroying it. Your very presence corrupts."_

_Meg felt like she was suffocating as Naomi seemed to grow larger, denouncing her._

_"You will destroy your angel. You can't help yourself. It is the only thing you know how to do. You are only cementing Castiel's fallen state. If you truly loved him, you would let him go."_

_"No," Meg whispered._

_"Then watch him die, because that will be the only outcome."_

~~~~~~~

Meg started awake, the nightmare clutching at her like cold fingers as she took a shuddering breath, trying to fight against the suffocating feeling of it.

There was a rustling at her back and warmth suddenly engulfed her, accompanied by the scent and feeling of fresh rain and thunder.

"Meg, are you all right?"

She turned in Castiel's arms and reached out to pull the angel closer to her, simply pressing her lips to his and feeling his essence crash over her, chasing the last of the darkness away. He hummed slightly and tucked his hands against the small of her back, pulling her flush to him.

Finally she pulled away and looked up to meet his still slightly concerned eyes. "Just a nightmare. The usual."

Castiel furrowed his brow, but didn't say anything. They all had their nightmares they had to deal with. Meg was just glad she didn't have to sleep all the time like humans did, though sleep was becoming more of a habit than she would like these days, for reasons she wasn't quite sure of.

A lot had happened in the last six months or so since she and Sam had rescued Dean and Castiel from Purgatory, and the mess that had followed, but Meg still couldn't get Naomi out of her head, and she was sure Cas was going through something similar. After all, Naomi had physically been in her angel's head. Meg was certainly glad that bitch was dead, but part of her wished it hadn't been so quick.

But after that, things had been good for a while. They'd had their vacation to put themselves back together, gone to the beach for a week and it had been nice. Meg and Cas had finally gotten the time to truly explore their relationship like a normal couple—as if there was anything normal about them, but at least they'd gotten to pretend. Getting to feel each other out, with Castiel sane once again, and Meg committed to their side now had been…interesting. But…nice. He'd even taken her out to dinner to a little beachside café, and boy, if the Winchesters hadn't looked like the happiest, proudest brothers when Cas had asked her out on a date. She still wasn't sure if Dean and Sam had actually put him up to it or not, but it had been nice and they'd both enjoyed it. They'd enjoyed other things too.

Meg still treasured the memory of that first night they made love, after they had killed Naomi and both needed a little something to forget everything they had been through. It had been…better than anything she had expected. For one, she certainly hadn't expected her awkward, blushing angel to turn into the warrior he truly was in bed, but damn, Castiel was not exactly the shy virgin she had pictured. And she didn't think all of that had come from the pizza man.

But as always, good things had to come to an end; they were all warriors, and obviously they were going to get back into hunting. For a while, there had been routine hunts, monsters falling back on their old ways now that the Leviathans were gone. There had been a few hairy moments, one case with a witch putting Cas into a coma. Meg still shuddered when she thought about how close she had come to losing him. But it had been business as usual, and they couldn't really complain about it, especially when everything had come out in the wash.

And then there had been the completely unexpected. Sam and Dean's grandfather, Henry Winchester, had come from the past, bringing a Knight of Hell with him. Meg even was too young a demon to remember the Knights of Hell but she had of course heard the stories, and Abbadon had been one of the most feared of all, the only one who had escaped Cain's executions. So, of course, it had to be her that had popped through. And now she was in the wind, drumming up a demon army that they were going to have to do their best to stop. If only a Knight of Hell could be stopped so easily.

Henry Winchester had unfortunately died, killed by Abbadon herself, but there had been some good to come out of the whole ordeal. It happened that Henry had been from a society called the Men of Letters, and they had a bunker in Lebanon Kansas, and before he died, he gave Sam and Dean the key to the place. So they had all gone there and had made the place their home.

Meg had to admit it was cozy enough for a bunker, and there was plenty of space for all of them. Not to mention the massive amount of lore that the place contained; books, artifacts and everything a hunter could possibly dream of.

Yet apparently nothing that could kill a Knight of Hell—at least nothing they had found yet.

Meg exhaled as Castiel slowly traced the new tattoo on her shoulder—a sigil he had crafted himself to keep her in her meatsuit when Sam and Dean had to exorcise demons. There were a few issues they had run into hunting with her, but so far they had been able to figure ways around those, and with this, she would no longer be in danger of being sent back to Hell if the boys had to quickly exorcise something in the heat of battle.

"What's wrong?" Castiel asked her.

She shook her head. "It's just…we have so much work to do, don't you think we should get a break from saving the world?" And wasn't it ironic that she was part of this small effort to save the world now? She really had fallen—by demonic standards, anyway.

"Unfortunately, we seem to be the only ones with the skills to do so," Cas told her.

Meg sighed and flopped onto her back. "I'm just tired, is all."

Castiel hooked an arm around her waist and pressed his face against her hair. "That's not what you said last night," he rumbled in her ear, sending a flush of heat into her core. Meg growled under her breath. She really should be angry at how easy it was for this angel to get under her skin, take her apart, but she couldn't find it in herself to care. Not really. And she was so worried that she was nothing but a demon. She almost snorted. Nah, she really should stop worrying about that.

"We really need to get up though," Meg said with a groan, shoving Cas away and slipping out of bed reluctantly to grab her clothes before she decided never to move again. "As much as I would love nothing more than to stay in bed with you all day, we have a world to save."

Castiel smiled at her softly. "See, you do care."

"Shut up," she grumbled, but turned to hide her own smile. She still couldn't figure out how she had been so lucky to deserve this beautiful creature in her life.

She slipped into the adjoining bathroom and tried to brush some semblance back to her hair. Catching a glance of her reflection in the mirror, she frowned as she looked tired even to herself—and she was sure that had nothing to do with what her and Cas had indulged in the night before. She'd felt tired off and on after hunts lately, which led her to needing naps, which might be refreshing except for the fact that they almost always ended in nightmares.

She sighed, finished dressing and then left the room, heading toward the kitchen where she could hear Castiel greeting the Winchesters. She walked in and Dean looked up from where he was pouring coffee.

"You want a cup?" he asked her.

Meg nodded and slid into the seat beside Castiel at the table. Sam nodded a greeting to her from where he was looking at his laptop.

"So, is there a new case?" Meg asked hopefully as she accepted the cup of coffee from Dean. Anything to get her mind off her stupid insecurities.

"Actually, yeah," Sam said.

"I got a call early this morning from a hunter who used to know Bobby," Dean said as he sat down with a bowl of cereal. "Said that several hunters have gone missing lately and were never seen again."

"Except, when I did a little digging into reports in the areas they were supposed to be working cases in, I found them. Dead," Sam said, turning the computer around so they could see. "Not only that, but the bodies were found with extensive amounts of torture done to them. That's three hunters now that have turned up like this."

"Bobby's friend, Irv, was letting everyone know that something was hunting hunters," Dean added.

"You think it's Abbadon?" Castiel asked grimly.

"I think she might have gotten it into her mind to grill hunters for our location," Dean replied. "We know she wants to find the bunker, but apparently it's warded well enough to keep even a Knight of Hell away."

"So you're going to walk right into a trap, is what you're saying," Meg said blandly.

"No, we're going to be ready for a trap," Dean said. "There's a difference."

Cas gave a longsuffering sigh. "History has not given credence to that opinion."

"Trap or not, we can't let Abbadon just go around killing other hunters when she's looking for us," Sam said firmly, closing his laptop.

"No," Castiel agreed. "So maybe we should plan a trap of our own."

"What are you thinking?" Dean asked.

"Abbadon's ready for you and Sam to show up, but she's not ready for an angel and a demon."

"Yeah, an angel and a demon who are a little low on power and couldn't defeat her any more easily than two hunters," Meg said wryly. "Good plan, Clarence."

"We would be a distraction while Sam and Dean set up a trap. Use those devil's trap bullets."

"Which worked so well last time?" Meg demanded.

"As long as we properly dispose of her, she should stay gone for a while at least," Dean mused. "Give us time to find a more permanent fix."

"Yeah, not likely," Meg scoffed. "Knights of Hell are kinda invincible. That's their thing."

"Then hacking her up in pieces and burying her all over the country may be our best bet," Dean said. "We just need to get her out of the way. I mean, I'm not for Crowley at all, but I will admit that there was a lot less demonic deaths when he was running Hell."

"And Abbadon is only starting her reign of terror," Cas pointed out grimly. "It's only a matter of time before she starts something big."

"How big?" Sam asked warily.

"Lucifer big," Castiel said. "If she defeats Crowley and takes over Hell, do you really think she will stop there? There was a reason she targeted the Men of Letters. So there would be no one to stop her when she marched against the humans. And now it looks like she's doing the same thing to hunters."

"Then we'll stop her in whatever way we can," Dean said.

His phone rang then and he frowned as he saw the number. He answered it. "Who is this?"

His face changed as he heard the voice on the phone and instantly put it on speaker.

"Abbadon," he said and everyone was instantly alert. "What do you want?"

"What do I want? Just a little chat, Dean," came the sultry voice from the other end of the line.

"Then talk," Dean said tersely.

"Not like this," Abbadon said firmly. "I'll text you the coordinates of where I want you to meet me. And you better hurry. I've got something you want. You know a hunter named Irv? I've got him and a girl, and they'll both die if you don't show up as soon as reasonably possible. Will you be there, Dean?"

Dean's face was dark. "Fine. But if you touch them in the meantime…"

"You'll what? Kill me?" She laughed. "That didn't work so well for you last time, did it? I look forward to seeing you again."

The call ended, and the four of them just looked at each other.

"Well that scraps our plan," Dean muttered. "She's called us out, so she knows we know it's a trap."

"Well, there's more than one way to set a trap," Meg said, standing up. "We may still be able to figure something out yet."

"Let's do it from the road," Sam said, already having plugged the coordinates into his phone. "We've got a long drive."

~~~~~~~~

The drive didn't take as long as it probably would have if Dean hadn't been the one at the wheel. During that time they discussed possible ways to, if not stop Abbadon, then to at least slow her down. Still, though, the best they were able to come up with was a hail of demon trap bullets and holy fire, and Castiel was not confident that would work out in their favor in the long run.

"Too bad we don't have a flame thrower," Dean muttered as they parked outside of the old abandoned town Abbadon's coordinates had led them too. A place just outside of Eugene, Oregon.

"That may not be the best idea when we have a demon and an angel working with us," Sam commented.

Dean shrugged. "True. Okay, everyone ready?"

Castiel pulled his angel blade out and held it in a ready position. It may not do much to Abbadon, but it would do more than a normal knife at least and she would likely have demon lackeys hanging around. He glanced over to Meg and saw she had one of her own.

"Ready," he said.

They made their way into the town, which had warning signs posted around it telling of dangerous chemicals.

"What the hell happened here?" Dean asked.

"Apparently a local chemical plant sprung a leak and they had to evacuate three square blocks," Sam provided, looking around. "Guess it's still contaminated."

"Wait, this whole place is poison?" Dean asked, eyes widening.

"Yeah," Sam said.

"Nice place for a meet and greet," Meg said. "It has Abbadon all over it."

"Awesome," Dean muttered, and cupped a hand over his groin protectively.

"I don't think that's going to help," Castiel said as he followed Sam and Meg into the town, casting around. It seemed deserted, but he could sense several processes nearby. He just wasn't close enough to detect whether they were human or demon. He did know that he didn't detect anything strong enough to be Abbadon. He wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not.

Dean glanced around the deserted area. "Okay, let's split up. Sam and I will go this way, Cas, you and Meg continue up the street. See if you can find a place to set up our ambush."

Castiel nodded and he and Meg split off, heading further down the line of abandoned shops and restaurants.

"This places gives me the creeps," Meg muttered, clutching her angel blade tightly in her hand.

Castiel nodded in agreement. "I don't like this. Abbadon must know we're here and yet I can't sense her."

"Let's get the hunters and get out then," Meg said.

A sound coming from a nearby bar caused them to turn around. Castiel and Meg shared a look and moved cautiously toward it.

They went through the slightly open door, blades raised and ready, but the only occupants were two humans tied back to back in the center of the room.

"Meg," Castiel called, hurrying over. "Irv?" he asked the man, tugging the gag from his mouth.

"Yeah, that's me," the man said. "The girl there is Tracy."

"You're both hunters?" Meg asked as she worked with Castiel to cut their bonds.

"Yeah," Tracy said, shrugging the ropes off.

"We're here with the Winchesters," Castiel told them as he finished untying Irv as well. "Why did Abbadon want you?"

"She capturing and torturing any hunter she can get her hands on," Irv said ruefully. "Trying to get info on Sam and Dean."

"What for?" Meg asked.

"Wants to know where they are," Irv shook his head. "But if they're here, we need to find them and get them out of here now. This whole thing was a setup."

"Yeah, no kidding," Meg snorted.

Castiel helped Irv to his feet and reached into his coat for an extra blade. "You take them back to the car, I'll go find Sam and Dean," Castiel told Meg.

She turned to the door, but cursed. "Yeah, I don't think we're getting out of here that easy. Demons at three o'clock."

Castiel glanced out the window of the bar and saw two demons in army fatigues walking up the street.

"Okay, we'll go together then," he said.

They burst out of the bar as soon as the demons crossed in front of it, and didn't even give them time to pull their guns up. Castiel charged one of the demons and Meg took the other. He grabbed the assault rifle, deflecting the barrel before the demon could send off a hail of bullets, and stabbed him in the crook of the arm so he dropped the gun. The demon howled, but the sound was cut off by Castiel's blade driving into his chest. The demon sparked out and slumped to the ground. Meg's opponent fell a second later and they glanced back to the hunters.

"Come on, the car's not far," Castiel said.

"Look!" Tracy suddenly cried in warning as three more demons came down a side street, running toward them.

"I hate demons," Meg growled, and stood her ground, bloodied blade at the ready.

Castiel met one of the demons head on, slashing with his blade. The demon swung the gun he was carrying up and slammed it into the angel's face, causing Castiel to stagger back a step. He shook it off, but he was off balance now, and the demon easily took him down with a kick to the chest. Castiel fell with a grunt, blade flying from his hand as the rifle was leveled at him.

"This may not kill you, halo, but it will sting," the demon sneered, eyes flashing black as he readied to pull the trigger.

A blade shot through his throat and Castiel rolled to the side just as bullets smacked the ground right where his head had been. He grabbed his blade and leapt to his feet, finishing off the final demon who was charging at Meg's back now that she had turned to finish off the demon about the shoot Castiel.

They both looked at each other, a little breathless.

Meg smiled. "My hero."

"As are you," Castiel replied, smiling back.

They beckoned the hunters forward and ran back down the street to the place they had left the Impala. Castiel looked around, wondering why Sam and Dean hadn't been alerted to the sound of fighting by now, and somewhat worried by that fact.

But first they had to get the rescued hunters to safety, and thankfully the Impala was just a block away.

Castiel pointed to the car. "There, wait for us there until we come back with Sam and Dean. There are weapons in the trunk if you need them."

"We should go with you," Irv protested.

Meg shook her head. "Sit this one out. We came all this way to rescue you, you don't want to just undo our work for us, do you?"

Irv looked slightly miffed, but he nodded. "Okay, but if you don't come out in ten minutes or so I'm coming in after you."

Castiel nodded, seeing the stubbornness he had come to know from all hunters in the man, and turned with Meg to head back into the town to see what had happened to Sam and Dean.

However, the instant they turned, a figure appeared in front of them, a smirk on his face.

"Hello, Cas," Crowley said, then flicked a look to Meg. "Whore. Fancy a chat?"

And with that Castiel felt himself gripped tightly from behind and carted through the void.

~~~~~~~~

Sam and Dean scouted out the old buildings, looking for any sign of life, demon or otherwise.

"Something about this seems wrong," Sam said as he stepped over an old tire.

"It's a trap, Sammy, of course it seems wrong," Dean said, but he knew what his brother meant. He'd expected way more demons than this. He wondered if Irv and the girl were here at all.

"Still…" Sam said and then there were distant sounds of a struggle a few streets down. Sam spun around to look at Dean.

"Cas and Meg," he said.

They ran off in that direction, but they didn't get ten yards before a figure dressed in black stepped out from a doorway and clotheslined Sam with their arm.

Dean skidded to a stop as Abbadon revealed herself, tossing her red hair back with a smile.

"Well, alone at last," she said, kicking Sam in the stomach before he could get up.

Dean didn't hesitate. He pulled his gun out and emptied the clip into her chest.

Abbadon took a step back, then smirked, pulling up her shirt to reveal a Kevlar vest. "Nice grouping. Should have aimed for the head."

Dean heard the other demons too late. They surrounded him and grabbed his arms, disarming him and holding him tightly.

Abbadon hauled Sam to his feet and shoved him toward two more demons before she strode over to Dean, a satisfied smile on her face as she reached up to grab his chin. "So nice of you boys to come when I call. How about we have a little talk?"


	2. Chapter 2

Meg was tossed out on the other side of the void, staggering. Castiel appeared next to her, gasping for breath and she grabbed the back of his coat to steady him. Angels weren't meant to travel the way demons did and it was obviously affecting him with something akin to motion sickness.

She straightened and whipped around to see Crowley standing in the middle of the room they had appeared in that seemed to be in some old, abandoned home. The smarmy bastard had his hands tucked into his pockets as if this was a casual chat, but at least he wasn't trying to kill them. Yet.

Meg, on the other hand, wasn't going to take that as an excuse not to run him through. She raised her blade, taking a step forward.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded.

Crowley raised a hand. "Ah-ah, hear me out, first."

"Hear you out?" Meg demanded. "The last time I saw you, you had me strapped to a rack!"

Castiel had regained his breath, and straightened, his own blade held at the ready as he shifted to a position halfway between Meg and Crowley.

"Yes, and times change, love," Crowley said. "Though I would much rather be torturing both of you, if I am being honest."

"If you touch her, I will smite you," Castiel said firmly, cold promise in his voice that made Meg weak in the knees despite the situation.

Crowley only rolled his eyes. "Don't be a tease, Cas. You're cut off from Heaven, I doubt you can get it up." He sighed as Castiel glowered at him. "Look, if I meant you harm, don't you think I would have gone straight for the offensive? Delivered you to my demons? Call your angelic boyfriend off, Meg—as I said, I just want a chat."

"About what?" Castiel demanded, neither of them bothering with putting away their blades.

"About Hell, my position there, and the problem with Abbadon," Crowley said.

"Yes, and speaking of Abbadon, we were in the process of rescuing hunters from her when you showed up," Castiel said. "And we'd appreciate it if you'd send us back to doing that."

"Not until we talk," Crowley said firmly. He sighed heavily as if the whole situation was an inconvenience for him. "Believe me, the last thing I want to do is partner up in anything again, especially after the last time, but….I'm admittedly in a bit of a bind and when it comes to major league baddies, it always seems like you and the Winchesters have the best chance of stopping them."

"Wait," Meg said with a derisive laugh. "Are you saying you want to team up to take down Abbadon?"

Crowley gave her a look. "What did you think I wanted? Look, I don't like this anymore than you do—"

Castiel made a scoffing sound in his throat. "That's an understatement."

"But," Crowley continued, ignoring him. "I know when to play my cards and how. Trust me, you don't want Abbadon running Hell. It would only be a matter of time before it spilled over onto earth and I know how much you love to protect the innocent humans."

Castiel and Meg shared a look. That had been their fear as well, obviously. But getting embroiled in Crowley's civil war was the last thing Meg wanted. She knew how well demonic civil wars went. Demons had no loyalty and you never knew what side they were on until they sold you out or stabbed you in the back. That's why she'd eventually just gone off on her own.

"Well?" Crowley asked.

"We'll have to discuss it with the Winchesters," Castiel said firmly.

Crowley snorted. "What? The B-Team can't make their own decisions?"

Meg scowled. "Fine, you want our decision? Here it is." She slipped through the void, appearing behind him and clapping a pair of demon handcuffs around his wrists.

"What?" Crowley stuttered, obviously offended as he struggled. "Remember how I explained how synergy worked, Cas? Want to tell your girlfriend to let me go?"

"Not really," Cas replied and stepped forward to grip Crowley's shoulder. "If you are telling the truth these will be temporary. At least until we can discuss it in more depth. But right now, Sam and Dean may be in trouble and we have no more time to spare for you."

He flew back to the place they had left the Impala, and Meg followed in the void. Irv and Tracy were still waiting by the car, and started when they appeared again, this time with Crowley handcuffed.

"What the hell?" Irv asked.

Meg opened the trunk of the Impala and Castiel threw Crowley in to his protests. Meg fished out a roll of duct tape and firmly placed a strip over Crowley's mouth before she slammed the trunk shut.

"Let's go see about Sam and Dean," she said.

~~~~~~~~

Dean grunted as the demons dragged him and Sam into one of the abandoned buildings. This looked like it had been an old Laundromat as there were still a bunch of washers and dryers lined up against one of the walls. Dean got a good look when he was thrown against one of them roughly, denting the metal, before the demons set on him with punches and vicious kicks. He could hear Sam struggling and grunting in pain nearby, but wasn't given the chance to even raise his head to look. A demon's boot smashed into his jaw and he collapsed onto the floor, smearing blood against the dirty tiles. Awesome, he'd be lucky to get out of here without chemical poisoning.

"Not so tough now, are you, Winchester?" One of the demons sneered as he kicked Dean in the ribs, rolling him onto his back. "You're gonna wish you hadn't showed up."

"That's enough for now." Abbadon stood off to one side, arms crossed over her chest. She nodded to her minions and they dragged the Winchesters over to a hanging bar on one side of the room. Dean struggled, but it did little good. One of the demons wrapped chains firmly around his wrists and then slung the chain over the bar, cinching it tight until his arms were stretched over his head, balancing on his toes. The position only exacerbated the pain from the beating and Dean bit back a groan. Sam was restrained similarly a few feet to his right.

"Sammy?" he asked quietly, turning toward his brother. Sam's face was a mess of blood and bruises, but he was conscious at least.

"I'm okay," Sam grunted. Dean muttered a curse and prodded the inside of his mouth with his tongue before he spit blood on the floor. At least there were no chipped teeth.

Abbadon nodded to two of the demons. "Keep a look out, boys. I don't want anyone interfering with our chat."

She sauntered over to the defenseless Winchesters, a smirk playing across her lips.

"You boys are so predictable. Rough up a few friends of yours and you come running to the rescue." She reached out and ran a hand down the side of Dean's face, making his skin crawl. "Such heroes. Gives a girl all kind of ideas."

Dean fixed a smirk on his face. "We gonna fight or make out, because I'm getting some real mixed signals here."

Abbadon kept smiling, leaning in close to him until he could feel her hot breath on his jaw. "We can do both if that's the way you want it, lover."

Dean grunted and jerked as far away as he could in his chains. "Why don't you buy me dinner first, sweetheart?"

Abbadon pulled back and held her hand out to one of the demons who handed her a long knife. "First, I want some info."

"First, we want to know why you're killing hunters," Sam retorted.

Abbadon gave a surprised laugh and reached out to caress Sam's face mockingly. "And they say you're the smart one. It was to get your attention, honey, what else? You and Dean are who I really want. And now that I have you, I'll stop going after your friends, as long as they stay out of my way."

"Then what do you want with us?" Sam asked.

Abbadon stepped over to him, lifting her knife to place under his chin, forcing Sam to tilt his head up. Dean held his breath, furious at his helpless position.

"Word on the street is you found the Men of Letters' main base of operation," she said, tracing the blade down until she got to the first button of Sam's shirt, which she popped open before pulling the blade away. "That was the one I was never able to find. I took out all the other bases, but that one they managed to keep hidden from me. I bet they have all sorts of fun little toys there. Books that tell you humans things you were never meant to know about. So you see why I can't have it around as a ready resource to hunters while I'm trying to make a kingdom for myself. It might give you all sorts of really bad ideas. Besides," she added, studying the blade she held thoughtfully. "There may be relics and weapons hidden there that can help me subjugate Crowley's followers for good. So what do you say?" She gripped Sam's jaw and leaned in close. "You going to give it up to me?"

Sam gave her a tightlipped smile. "Pass."

She glanced at Dean, who raised an eyebrow and shrugged as well as he could. "What he said."

Abbadon sighed heavily, and pulled away, testing the sharpness of the knife she held on her thumb. "Well, then I suppose I'll have to do this the hard way." She suddenly lashed out and sliced Sam across the collarbone.

The younger hunter grunted in pain, and Dean ground his teeth, jerking at his chains.

"I can take all the time I need," Abbadon told them, pressing the point of the blade into the soft spot under Sam's armpit. "And I can get a lot more creative than this." Sam bit back a whimper as the blade drew blood, causing red to blossom over his shirt.

Dean grit his teeth. "Even if we do tell you where the bunker is, you won't be able to get into it. It's warded against everything evil and I'm pretty sure you fit into that category, sister."

"You're right," Abbadon said mockingly, giving them a pretend coy look. "I'd need a key. And I seem to have lost all of the ones that I had collected over the years, so…I'll be needing the one you have." She reached out and began slowly running her hands down Sam's body, causing him to cringe in discomfort. "I bet one of you has it on you."

"Think again, bitch," Dean growled. "We're not that stupid."

"Really?" she asked, finally leaving Sam alone to turn back to him. She reached out, feeling in his pockets, groping around his hips, and damn if the bitch didn't take her time. Then she nodded to the demons to check their jackets that had been taken from them along with their weapons.

"You see, the Men of Letters were pretty fond of trying to hide their keys from me back in the day. And they tried all sorts of thing," she said, reaching up to take hold of Dean's shirt collar. He held his breath as she brought up the knife and sliced into the fabric before she violently ripped it open, exposing his torso. She brought her blade up and rested it against his lips. "One of them was even so stupid as to swallow it when he saw that I was coming. That was a mistake." Abbadon smirked and reached out to take a fistful of Dean's hair, wrenching his head back slightly to expose his throat, where she pricked his skin with the tip of the blade. "So, I would advise you to tell me where the key is, Dean, before I go on a little treasure hunt." She slid the blade down his body from his throat to his navel, where she dug the blade in threateningly, leaving little to the imagination.

Dean snarled, trying his best to keep his cool, even when on the verge of being disemboweled. "Go to hell."

"Baby, when I'm done here, it's all gonna be Hell on earth."

"Lucifer already tried that," Sam reminded her. "Look what happened to him."

Abbadon laughed. "Lucifer was never enough of a warrior to pull it off. I used to lead armies for him, the other Knights and I did all the dirty work. I learned how to lead and conquer, while he just came up with grandiose master plans of revenge that obviously didn't work." She looked between the brothers. "So what's it going to be boys? Sam? You really want to watch me gut your brother in front of you for one measly little key?"

Dean gave him a warning look and Sam tightened his jaw. They both knew the key was actually in the Impala, but Cas and Meg had hopefully gotten back there by now with Irv and the girl. If they were smart they would have gotten out of here, but Dean knew that Cas at least would be out looking for them. And Meg would follow Cas. He just hoped they wouldn't fall foul of the demons crawling around the town.

"You know," Abbadon said, pressing the blade to Dean's cheek. "If you boys cooperate, I might find a reason to keep you alive." She pulled his torn shirt aside to expose his anti-possession tattoo, one red fingernail running over it. "I've always liked this body."

"No!" Sam growled.

"Or, since you're both so pretty, I could keep you as consorts. I'm sure I could come up with plenty of ways to keep you useful to me."

Dean cringed. Yikes. "Gross. We'll pass, thanks. "

"Suit yourself," Abbadon said, sliding her knife from his cheek and tracing it down his body again, tapping the waistline of his jeans. "But I warn you, this will be a lot more unpleasant than serving me for the rest of your life."

Dean smirked. "Yeah, I think I'd rather be eviscerated than end up as your boy toy; I'll take my chances."

Sam was struggling. "Dean, no!"

Dean felt the prick of the blade in his side and flinched backward as far as he could in his chains. Abbadon grabbed his shoulder to steady him and was just about to set to her grim work, when there were shouts from outside the door and sounds of fighting.

Abbadon pulled back just as the door to the Laundromat slammed open, and Cas stormed in, blade raised and bloody, Meg hurrying behind him.

"Ah, the pet angel," Abbadon sneered, then narrowed her eyes as she saw Meg. "And a demon?"

Dean kicked out at her, catching the hand she held the knife with and sending it flying from her grip. She snarled, and spun to punch him in the stomach, causing him to double over as far as he could before she rushed forward.

"Take them!" she snapped at her remaining demons.

The two lackeys surged to obey, but Meg and Cas made short work of them. Abbadon snarled and stalked toward them. Cas lashed out with his blade, but she simply backhanded him and sent him flying across the room to collapse into a table. Meg glowered at the Knight of Hell and raised her own blade. Abbadon smirked.

"What is a demon doing playing with the Winchesters?" she asked, cocking her head curiously.

Meg smirked. "Unlike you, I decided to play for the winning team."

Abbadon chuckled and merely batted Meg's angel blade out of her hand, before she took the demon around the throat. "Oh, don't be so sure about that, honey. Your boys here are dead meat as soon as I finish you off."

Meg clawed at her hand and Dean and Sam were attempting to get free of their chains. Dean's wrists had started bleeding, but he glanced over at Cas who was hauling himself up and grabbing something from inside his coat. Dean saw him take out a flask and pour it in a circle on the floor.

Meg smirked even as Abbadon attempted to choke her. "You first, bitch," she ground out.

She pulled another blade from her coat and slammed it into Abbadon's wrist. The demon cried out in surprise more than pain and Meg brought up a boot to kick Abbadon in the chest, sending her backward into the circle that Cas had made. He had a lighter ready and threw it onto the ground. In an instant, Abbadon was surrounded by a ring of holy fire. She glanced at it in furious astonishment.

"This won't hold me forever," she warned them.

"No, but it will hold you long enough," Cas said, and hurried toward Sam and Dean.

"Damn it's good to see you, Cas," Dean grinned as the angel broke his chains easily and then did the same for Sam.

"Hey, what about me?" Meg asked, rubbing her throat.

"You too, Meg," Dean said with a roll of his eyes as he rubbed his wrists, wincing as his battered body protested being upright. He reached out to Sam and offered him a steadying hand as his little brother staggered slightly, one hand cradling his right side.

"You okay?" he asked softly.

"Bruised ribs. I'll be fine. You?"

Dean nodded, plucking at his ruined shirt with irritation and buttoning up his flannel. That had been a close call. They quickly grabbed their weapons and passed the glowering, furious Abbadon.

"The hunters are safe and waiting back at the car," Cas told them as they hurried out the door. Once they were clear, he took hold of Meg's elbow, and bent to inspect her bruised throat, his fingers touching the skin tenderly. "Did she hurt you?"

"Not as much as she could have," Meg assured him and Dean saw a softness in her eyes. He smirked to himself. Meg had really changed in the last few months her and Cas had been together. She didn't try to bite his head off for caring about her anymore. If Dean didn't value certain pieces of his anatomy, he might tease her that she was going soft.

They hurried back through the town and to the place they had left the Impala. Irv and Tracy had found another vehicle, but they had waited there for them with worried expressions.

"Thank God you boys are okay," Irv said, clasping Dean and Sam's hands. "We were starting to get worried."

"We're fine, but we need to get out of here now," Dean said. "You should take the girl and get a long way away from here. Don't take on any jobs that look suspicious for a while, okay?"

Irv frowned, but nodded. "Alright, but if you boys need help, call."

Dean nodded, but knew they wouldn't. The majority of hunters weren't cut out for dealing with the kind of crap they did on a regular basis. There was no point in getting more of them killed.

"Oh, we actually have a surprise for you," Meg said as Irv and Tracy drove off. "We were waylaid in our rescue."

She and Cas led Dean and Sam to the trunk and opened it.

Dean glanced down and his eyes went wide.

The King of Hell, tied up with demonic handcuffs and duct tape over his mouth glared up at him.

"Crowley?" Sam exclaimed.

"Yes," Cas said. "The question now is what do we do with him."


	3. Chapter 3

"We should kill him," Meg said, folding her arms over her chest. She didn't like the idea of Crowley being in the bunker even though they had blindfolded him and brought him down to the dungeon room where he was fully contained by a huge demon trap. They may not have lived there long but it was already starting to feel like their home, and letting the King of Hell, who had tried to kill or torture all of them at least once, was not a move Meg was comfortable with.

"Look, I want him dead as much as you do, but he may be useful," Dean said, if not reluctantly.

"We can at least hear him out," Sam said.

"And if we really don't like what he says, we can kill him," Cas added.

Meg shot him a look, but sighed. "Fine. But for the record, I think bringing him here at all was a bad idea. We should have kept him in the trunk."

Dean shrugged. "We'll make it quick."

They trooped down to the dungeon where Crowley sat in a chair, manacled with the demon proof cuffs, the bag they had used as a blindfold still over his head. Meg hovered at the door, so they wouldn't have to break the trap to let her out.

Dean strode over and yanked the bag off Crowley's head then none-too-gently ripped the duct tape off.

"Agh!" Crowley complained, before glancing around at the dungeon. The walls held an assortment of torture implements that Meg was itching to use on the King of Hell, pay him back a little for what he had done to her.

"Hm," Crowley said, sounding almost impressed. "Love what you've done with the place. And what place is this exactly?"

"Alright, you wanted to talk, so talk," Dean said, folding his arms across his chest.

Crowley sighed. "Never one for foreplay. But I will admit that the situation is urgent, so I will comply with your wishes. I wanted to parley. Team up with you against Abaddon."

"Why?" Sam demanded. "A few months ago you would have happily killed us all."

"And while that is still true, I am willing to be the bigger man here, and offer a truce to defeat the world's angriest ginger—and that's saying something."

"And how are we supposed to trust you?" Cas demanded. "What exactly do you get out of it?"

"Hopefully my throne back," Crowley growled.

"Yeah, not gonna happen," Dean scoffed.

Crowley narrowed his eyes at him. "Tell me, Dean, since I've taken over hell, how many times have you had problems with demons, really? I keep them in check, I run a tight and profitable business. Abaddon is too old school and anyone else who would take over from her wouldn't be any better. You want to go back to the dark ages where demons run around willy-nilly? Going on killing sprees just because they're a little bored? I think you have too much on your plate to want to worry about that."

Dean huffed a breath as he looked between the others. Castiel was the one who spoke though.

"He does have a point. As much as I dislike Crowley, we're all better off with him in charge than someone like Abaddon."

"Are you kidding me, Cas?" Dean demanded.

Crowley smirked. "Listen to Feathers, Squirrel. He knows what he's talking about."

"Though I will definitely kill you if I get the chance," Castiel growled at the demon.

"Come on, boys," Crowley cajoled. "I helped you during the apocalypse, didn't I? Do this for old time's sake at least."

"Okay, so you want us to work with you, we get that, but what are you offering us in return?" Sam asked.

"Resources," Crowley said. "My infinite knowledge of all things Hell and demons. And my armies."

Meg scoffed. "Right, because you definitely have those."

Crowley narrowed his eyes at her. "Hell is divided, I still have loyalists."

"Really?" Meg demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. "You remember how easily the Lucifer loyalists caved after you took over? You really think anyone is actually playing for your side? They're playing both sides at best."

"And as someone who has made it a career to protect my own hide, I respect that. But there are still some demons who realize that Abaddon isn't what they want," Crowley insisted. "After all, I offer a Hell where a demon can make a career for himself. Abaddon is just offering positions in her army, which will more than likely expire when they outlive their usefulness. What I need is to win this war, so that my loyalists will come back twice as strong and make an example of those who refuse to come back to my rule. Show them that no one crosses the King of Hell."

"Except an angel," Meg couldn't help but jab, smirking as Cas sent her a warning look.

"Yes, well, I'm willing to put our differences aside for the good of, well, everyone. Are you, whore?"

Meg sneered at him. "As long as you don't expect me to keep the truce when this is all over."

"Good," Crowley said, glancing between all of them. "Then we have a deal?"

Sam, Dean and Cas all shared long looks. Meg waited, but knew what they would choose. She couldn't say she was happy with it, but if it did help them defeat Abaddon…

"Fine," Dean said. "But we call the shots."

Crowley rolled his eyes. "Fair enough. As long as you refer to my better judgment when needed."

"Don't press your luck," Dean growled.

"Would you like my first piece of advice?" Crowley asked then.

"No, but give it to me anyway," Dean grunted.

"It would aid our cause greatly to have someone on the inside. Someone to relay information to us about what Abaddon has planned."

"Yeah, great, and who would we send in?" Dean asked sarcastically. "You?"

Crowley's eyes landed on Meg. "I was thinking Castiel's girlfriend would do the job nicely."

"What? No," Cas said firmly.

"Yeah, Abaddon's already seen her with us," Sam added. "Why not one of your demons?"

"Because he can't trust his demons," Meg said, casting a knowing look at Crowley. "And, as much as I hate to say it, he's right. We do need an inside person. I'll do it."

"Meg, no, that is a terrible idea!" Cas said.

"Please, Feathers, you really trust your tart so little you won't even let her out of your sight? What a lovely budding relationship." Crowley smirked.

Meg rolled her eyes but Castiel took a step toward the demon before Dean grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Okay—Crowley, shut up. Let's talk about this somewhere private." Dean quickly ushered them out of the dungeon.

"Come on, guys! I'm part of the team now!" Crowley shouted after them, yanking at his chains. Dean closed the door on him.

They filed up to the library, and Meg could almost feel the tension in Cas.

"Before you say anything," she told the guys. "Think about it. You know this would help out a lot."

"But she'd be more inclined to kill you on sight than let you in to talk!" Cas cried.

Meg sighed and turned to appeal to Sam and Dean instead. "Look, we need to know what she's planning. Find her weaknesses. And all she knows is that I was with you on that mission. Like I said, demons aren't exactly known for their loyalty. I have the perfect opportunity. I'll go in, say I decided to join up with the winning side, and get into her good graces."

"And what exactly does that entail?" Dean asked, raising his eyebrows.

Meg smiled. "Probably better not to know."

"I don't like this," Sam said.

"It's not happening," Cas said firmly. "I won't let you do this."

Meg felt a flair of irritation. "Why not? You're not the only ones allow to risk your lives to save the world. This is something I can do, and it's something we need done, end of story. I don't want to wait out this war, I want to win it, and if this is the way to do it, then I'm not missing this opportunity, and you'd be stupid to hold me back. If I'm going to be one of the good guys now, then let me take the risks right along with you."

Castiel flinched slightly, and simply looked away. Meg clenched her fists, ready to argue more when Dean spoke up.

"You're right, Meg. This is an opportunity we can't pass up."

"Dean," Cas growled.

"Cas," Dean replied. "None of us can afford to let our emotions get in the way right now. None of us like the idea of the people we love putting themselves into danger, but that's how we win the war. That's how we end up in a place where we can be happy."

"Unless we're all dead," Cas said bitterly. "I used to think that dying for a cause was the answer, but I don't anymore."

"I never said I was dying," Meg told him quietly. "I'm gonna damn well survive this and when it's over you're gonna take me on another date."

She felt a pang in her chest at the broken look that crossed Castiel's face, but he closed his eyes and ran a hand over them. "I can't stop you, I know. But that doesn't mean I like this."

He then turned around and left the room. Meg started to follow him, but Sam stopped her.

"Let him cool off," he said gently. "I'm gonna make some coffee, then we can sit down and look for ways to kill a Knight of Hell."

Meg sagged, and sunk into one of the library chairs. She was surprised when Dean took the seat next to her and turned so he was facing her.

"What?" she asked sharply.

Dean held up his hands. "Look, Meg, I respect your decision. I think this is going to help us a lot in our fight."

"But?"

"But, if there's one thing I've learned, it's not worth it to put yourself in unnecessary danger either. I just want to make sure of where your head is."

Meg smiled. "Look, I'm not big into the dying for the greater good thing. I'm helping out where I can, but I'm walking out of this. No one else has been able to kill me yet, and I don't think it's going to be some self-important redheaded bitch."

Dean smirked. "Just…all I ask is that you come back. Cas…he really cares about you. And I think after everything, you may be one of the only things holding him together. It would kill him if anything happened to you."

Meg looked down at her hands, swallowing hard. "I've never had someone who cared about me like that. I'm just…not used to it, I guess. I've always just had to look after myself."

Dean gave her a soft look. "I know how hard it is to accept someone's care like that. Take it from a professional hard-ass." She snorted. "But even for stubborn hard-asses like us, it's good to have someone to come home too. Be it family, or, whatever."

Meg allowed herself a small smile as well. "It is. Even if I don't think I deserve it."

"That's something you're going to have to figure out for yourself." Dean stood and surprised her with a companionable squeeze of the shoulder. He went over to the bookshelf and pulled off several volumes, dropping one in front of her. "Right now, we research."

Meg groaned. "Glad I'm the one with the dangerous mission."

Dean grunted. "Yeah, wish I was going with you."

They spent the afternoon researching, and Cas eventually joined them, but didn't say much to anyone. Meg felt a tightness in her chest, some ache that she wasn't entirely sure how to explain. These damn emotions were just getting worse and she didn't know what to do about them. She just hoped that she would be able to repair things with Cas before she left tomorrow.

Even more inexplicably she was exhausted. It had been a long day and all she wanted was to lie down. She excused herself after a while to go to her room and climbed into the bed, lying on top of the covers as she stared at the wall. She wondered why she felt so exhausted lately; this strange need to sleep. It seemed that if she used her powers at all anymore, teleporting, throwing people around psychically, she had to sleep. Maybe there were side effects to sleeping with an angel, some kind of supernatural STD? Having sex with Cas always felt…cleansing, but in the best way possible. Maybe it was wearing down her demonic powers. But Cas wasn't having any ill effects that she could see, other than the fact he was cut off from Heaven, which, from what Sam had explained to her, meant that he would slowly lose his powers over time… Maybe…maybe something similar happened to demons when they left Hell. Maybe that was what was wrong with her.

But it wasn't like she could look up WebMD for demons, and she was definitely not going to ask Crowley about it. If she had to take a nap after using her powers, so be it. As long as she could still gank Abaddon that was all she cared about.

As tired as she felt, she still wasn't any closer to drifting off when the door opened almost hesitantly. She didn't have to look up to see the figure slip into the dim room to know it was Castiel. She could always sense his presence because of his grace.

He halted only a second before he climbed onto the bed next to her, sitting up against the headboard.

"Meg?" he asked quietly.

She shifted finally, and turned to look at him. "Hey."

She could see Cas' slightly pained expression even in the dark room, and could tell he was struggling for words. Neither of them was very good at this.

"I wanted to…apologize for how I acted earlier," he told her quietly, ducking his head somewhat. "I didn't mean to imply that I didn't think you could do this. I just…"

"I know," Meg cut in. "I know you're worried, but I told you I'm coming home. And we're going to gank Abaddon and you are going to take me on a date."

Cas' lips turned upward. "I know we're always in danger, but you're going in there alone, and we still have no way to kill Abaddon."

"I was alone for a long time," Meg reminded. "And I survived then. Now I actually have something to survive for." She reached out and took his hand in hers, squeezing it reassuringly. "I'm not leaving you, Clarence."

Cas took a shuddering breath and nodded. "I know. Just, promise me you won't take any unnecessary risks?"

"Can you promise not to do the same?" Meg retorted.

Castiel let out a wry chuckle. "I suppose that's fair." He shifted in the bed until he was lying beside her on his back, his head canted toward her. "But still, be careful."

"You too, Cas," she said softly and leaned closer to kiss him.

When they pulled away, Cas wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, burying his face in her hair. Meg pressed her face against his neck and breathed in his scent before she closed her eyes. Finally, she was able to fall asleep.

~~~~~~~

Meg stood outside the old, abandoned asylum where Crowley used to hold court on earth since he hated hell almost as much as the rest of them—if not more. Teleporting there had left her with that annoying nagging weariness again, but she ignored it.

She had refused the long goodbyes and Cas' offer to fly there with her. She didn't want him anywhere close to Abaddon and he knew it would risk breaking her cover anyway, but he had still looked anxious and reluctant to let her go and it had made her chest ache. Sam and Dean had also looked worried, but Dean had given her a nod and she had bolstered herself with that. And the knowledge that the sooner they took down Abaddon, the sooner they could get back to their normal lives. Still, it was hard leaving her team after having gotten used to someone having her back. She supposed that was her fault for getting so comfortable, but she refused to see it as a weakness—just… character development.

Oh yeah, it was no wonder her demonic powers weren't up to par. They had probably retreated on their own due to all her newfound lameness.

She suddenly became aware of figures close by, creeping through the surrounding woods. She made no move to pull out her blade, simply holding up her hands.

"I just want to talk," she said.

Two figures appeared, one of which she recognized as a demon named Damian, one of her old…acquaintances. That bastard.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the traitor whore," he said with a smirk. "How have you been Meg? Having fun playing with the humans?"

"Why do you think I'm here?" she asked. "Anyone can only take so much of the Winchesters before they want to fall on their sword. I want to talk to Abaddon."

Damian cocked his head to one side as if considering, then nodded to his companion. "Alright. A talk is fine. If Abaddon doesn't like what you have to say she'll get rid of you herself." He held out his hand. "Blade."

Meg rolled her eyes, but pulled her angel blade from inside her coat. "Happy?"

Damian leered, but took her arm. "Come on."

They escorted her inside the asylum, past several more demon guards who watched with interest, and then down a long hallway, pushing open a door to an open room with a dais at one side and a throne on it. Meg rolled her eyes. That was definitely Crowley's addition.

Abaddon was having a heated conversation with several demons off to one side before she looked over at Damien.

"I'm busy," she snarled.

"Someone wants an audience," Damian explained.

Abaddon looked like she was going to refuse, but then she actually looked at Meg and stopped, brow furrowing. "Wait…you're the demon who was with the Winchesters. What the hell are you doing here?"

Meg shrugged off Damian's hold and stepped forward. "I came to talk. I want to join your team."

Abaddon cocked a brow, folding her arms over her chest. "Really? And what happened to 'joining the winning team'?"

Meg smirked. "Is that not what I'm doing?" she asked. "Look, I was only working with the Winchesters because sometimes they pay me to do jobs for them. That can work to your advantage."

"Unless you're working as a double agent for them," Abaddon said.

Meg shrugged. "Normally, I probably would be, but word on the street is they're working with Crowley now, and I don't want anything to do with him. I do have some lines I won't cross."

Abaddon still didn't look impressed. Meg pressed on. "Look, you want Crowley as dead as I do. We can help each other."

"Did the Winchesters ever share where their bunker was?" Abaddon asked suddenly.

Meg scoffed. "Are you kidding? They'd never let me near that place. Whenever they needed help, they'd get in contact and tell me the location they wanted to meet. But I do know they're currently trying to find a way to kill you."

"And how are they coming on that?" Abaddon asked.

Meg shrugged. "Not well. That's the latest job they've sent me on."

"Well, I'm not sure I trust you entirely," Abaddon said. "But I don't trust half of these scum either, and I think you'll be a hell of a lot more useful than them." She nodded slightly. "Welcome to the team. We've got work to do."

Meg smirked, turned to Damian and snagged her blade from his belt. She followed Abaddon, and let out a deep breath, trying to force her hand to stop shaking.

Step one was complete. Now she just had to survive long enough to get something useful.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will have some lines taken from 9x16 "Blade Runners"

Castiel glanced from the book he was reading to the phone resting beside him on the desk, but there were still no calls or texts. Not even ones he had missed.

Dean, sitting across from him, rapped the table. "Hey, can you try to focus?"

"Meg hasn't called yet. It's been hours," Castiel said.

"And you know she can't call you if she's surrounded by demons," Dean reasoned. "She'll send us word when she can. But she's got this, she can take care of herself."

Castiel sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "I still don't like this. If Abaddon finds out why she's really there, she won't hesitate to kill her."

"Look, man, I know you're worried," Dean said slowly, leaning across the table. "But the best way we can get Meg out of there fast, is to find something that will gank Abaddon. We'll kill that bitch and you bring Meg back home, and you and her can go on that date you promised, huh?" Dean waggled his eyebrows.

Castiel rubbed the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. "You're right. It's just…all I can think about is Meg out there without backup."

"We're still a team, Cas, even if we can't be there this instant. Meg is trusting us to find a weapon, and we have to trust her to relay useful information and set Abaddon up when the time comes." He turned back to the book in front of him with a sigh. "Now if we can just weed through all this crap and find something actually useful."

"Maybe you're just looking in the wrong place."

Castiel and Dean both shot up from their chairs, reaching for weapons as Crowley appeared in the room. But he was still in chains, and being led by Sam, so they calmed down after a second. Castiel frowned and Dean shot a look at his brother.

"What the hell, Sam? Why is he out here?"

Sam made an appealing gesture toward Dean. "We've been at this for nearly two days now and still haven't found anything. Crowley…" Sam grunted grudgingly, "says he has some intel we might find useful."

"Yeah, or he just wants a get out of jail free card so he can make his escape," Dean growled.

Crowley held up his manacled hands with a rattle of chains. "Hello? I'm no better than human like this, Dean. And Moose is right. You'll never find anything useful before Abaddon takes over the world. And it just so happens that I know of someone who has at least three items that could kill a Knight of Hell in their possession."

"What?" Castiel demanded as all three of them glowered at Crowley.

"Why the hell didn't you say anything before?" Dean demanded.

"You didn't ask." Crowley smirked coyly as he sat down at the table, leaning back comfortably. "It's not as easy as it sounds. Hypothetically I know of someone who should have what we're looking for. But I've never been able to locate him."

"Great, so we're still back at square one," Sam sighed.

"Not necessarily," Crowley said, gesturing around them. "See, the man we seek was once a Man of Letters—lived in this very bunker."

Sam's eyes blew wide. "Wait, but Abaddon killed all the Men of Letters."

"Well, this one was thrown out before Abaddon went on her killing spree," Crowley said. "I looked for him when I found out, thinking he could finally be my ticket into this place. But he was much better at hiding than I gave him credit for. However, having the vast amount of knowledge here about the Men of Letters and their members, we may very well be able to track him. Or at the very least find his collection."

Castiel shared a look with Sam and Dean. "It is worth a shot," the angel finally said. "Don't you agree?"

"It's the only lead we've had so far," Sam agreed and turned to Crowley. "Fine, what was his name?"

"Cuthbert Sinclair," Crowley said. "But after he left the Men of Letters, he went by Albert Magnus."

"Albert Magnus." Sam furrowed his brow. "That was the name that the Men of Letters took on when they were in hiding."

"Well he's gonna have to come out of retirement then," Dean said. "Let's see what we can dig up on old Cuthbert Sinclair."

Sam pulled every file they could find about Sinclair and they all sat down in the library, flipping through them. Well, Sam, Dean and Castiel did. Crowley just sat in a comfortable reading chair and flipped through Dean's Busty Asian Beauties magazines, while he drank their liquor.

"Well, this guy sure was something—not to mention having a name like Cuthbert Sinclair," Dean said after a while, handing a paper to Sam from his share of the files.

"Looks like he designed most of the warding that keeps the bunker safe," Sam said, sounding somewhat impressed.

"It says here he was named 'Master of Spells' right after he initiated," Dean added.

"I guess his work got a little crazy," Sam said, reading further. "The leadership called it 'eccentric and irresponsible'."

Castiel had been flipping through another pile of files, all of them containing the plans for some bizarre sort of spell with a big red 'REJECTED' stamped onto each of them. "These are the projects he proposed the last few years he was here," he told the Winchesters. "All of them were rejected, and…well, from what I have read, I can see why."

"So difficult—brilliant, ahead of your time, despised for it," Crowley spoke up. "Trust me, I know."

"Formal separation from the Men of Letters, April 1956," Dean read, ignoring the demon.

"He missed the massacre," Sam provided.

"As I told you," Crowley said smugly. "I promise, my intel is always good."

Castiel rolled his eyes. "Yes, but you still don't know where he is, and so it does us little good."

"Where did you look for him anyway?" Sam asked Crowley.

"Do I look like I do my own footwork?" Crowley asked him with a snort. "I had my demons look around but they were only able to track him to a general location. Somewhere in western Missouri. But the trail stopped there. I figured he must have been warded up to the gills."

"Well, he was a genius at that, wasn't he?" Sam asked, grabbing the stack of rejected proposals. "Maybe there's something here that we can use to track him down."

"Maybe if we are able to find the location he's hiding in, we can better see how to break the warding," Castiel suggested. "I doubt he would have left a way to track him with the same people who had cast him out."

"Good point," Sam said. "Plus, he may be more inclined to show himself to Legacies. I mean it's not like he's going to open up to a bunch of demons."

"Racists, the lot of you," Crowley grumbled, standing up and refilling his glass with scotch, wrinkling his nose as he took a sip. "But Moose may be onto something."

"Okay then," Dean said, standing up. "No point in wasting time. You're gonna show us exactly where those demons tracked Sinclair to."

"Ah-ah," Crowley said, holding up his hands, jingling the chains. "I'm not going anywhere unless you take these off."

Dean snorted. "You wanna go back in the trunk instead?"

Crowley folded his arms as well as he could across his chest. "Put me in there if you want to waste time driving all over the state."

Castiel rolled his eyes, but stepped forward. "I'll keep an eye on him. Even though we're already doing you a favor, Crowley."

"Oh don't be coy, darling. You're all so full of yourselves." Crowley rolled his eyes.

Dean glowered, but reached into his pocket and pulled out the key for the manacles. "Fine. But you do one thing I don't like and these are going back on, and I'll find a muzzle too."

"You know I love it when you're a tease, Dean," Crowley snarked and the hunter grunted, tossing the keys to Castiel.

"Grab your crap. We leave in ten."

Castiel unlocked the manacles and Crowley rubbed his wrists before straightening his suit.

"So, Cas, how does it feel to be working together again?" the demon asked with a smirk.

Castiel growled and grabbed his arm, leading him out to the garage. "Just know that if you do anything, and I mean anything, we don't like, I will gladly kill you."

"I'd expect no less, darling," Crowley said.

Castiel raised his eyes skyward. This was going to be a long trip.

~~~~~~~

Meg felt the eyes of all the demons on her whenever she walked the halls of the asylum. She tried to ignore it as much as possible, exuding the confidence that would keep them off her back, but she could practically taste the mistrust coming from them. Not all of them knew who she was, but enough did, and everyone hated a traitor. She just hoped that none of them knew she had been working consistently with the Winchesters for the better part of six months. She didn't need that getting out to Abaddon.

Speaking of the self-made Queen, Meg was on her way to the throne room after receiving a summons. Apparently Abaddon wanted to see her. She had no idea why, and she was honestly a little nervous, but if this would be a way to get closer to the Knight of Hell, get into her confidence, then she would take whatever chance she got.

She briefly fingered the cellphone she kept in a hidden pocket of her jacket. She hadn't felt safe enough to text Cas yet, but she knew he would understand. Even if he would be worried. Meg suppressed a sigh. All she really wanted was to be fighting this thing alongside her angel, and yeah, the Winchesters too. But she had her job to do and so did they.

There was a guard at the door when she got to the room, and she raised her chin, effecting that haughty attitude that all self-important demons had.

"The queen wishes to see me," she said.

The guard gave her one dark look before he stepped aside and Meg strode past him and swept into the room.

Abaddon was speaking with another demon, but she looked up as soon as Meg came in and dismissed him.

"Ah, Meg, thank you for joining me," she said.

"You wanted to see me, your majesty?" Meg asked, laying on the honorific a little thick, but it certainly wouldn't hurt.

Abaddon smiled. "Yes. I have a job for you. Follow me."

She led Meg out of the room and down a long hallway to another part of the building. Meg glanced around, recognizing some of this area from the last time she had been there. When Crowley had kidnapped her and tortured her for days before Castiel and the Winchesters had shown up—her unicorn coming to her rescue.

Abaddon opened the door to one room, and ushered Meg inside. The sight that greeted her was of three demons strung up in chains, looking miserable, scared, and indignant all at the same time.

"I need you to prove your loyalty to me," Abaddon told Meg. "Make sure you're really with me."

"You want me to kill them?" Meg asked.

"No," Abaddon said, a smile pulling at her lips. "I want you to torture them. They're a few of Crowley's die-hards that I picked up who refuse to turn. I thought if anyone knows where that little beggar is hiding, it's them." She turned to Meg. "And if anyone can get them to talk, it's you."

Meg raised an eyebrow. "You flatter me, your majesty."

"Not at all. I heard that you apprenticed under Alastair," Abaddon said. "I know he trained his students well and I trust you to get the job done properly."

Meg nodded. It was true. As much as she hated that bastard, she was certainly well trained in the art of getting people to talk.

"I'll leave you to it then," Abaddon said. "Bring any information they spill directly to me."

"And if they refuse to talk?" Meg asked her.

"Then kill them. They're of no use to me if they don't have any information," Abaddon said dismissively and strode out the door, closing it behind her.

Meg turned back to the demons, reaching into her coat to pull out her angel blade. The demons shuffled slightly, rattling their chains. Some of them probably knew her reputation. She smiled. Even though she had been off being a good guy with hunters and an angel for the past few months didn't mean she was going to balk at torturing a few demons. Especially Crowley's men. She spun her blade jauntily.

"All right, boys, who wants to go first?" she asked, and her eyes flicked black.

~~~~~~~

Meg wiped blood from her leather jacket with a strange mix of feelings. Three burned out meatsuits now dangled in the chains. No one had given up any information. Not that she would have relayed anything useful to Abaddon if they had. She was actually impressed. Or maybe she was just rusty.

It certainly hadn't felt as satisfying as it used to. Meg sighed. She decided she really hated demons.

She left the room and went back to speak with Abaddon. The Knight of Hell was sitting on the throne, looking over some paperwork.

"My queen?" Meg said, bowing slightly, even though the motion made her want to gag.

"Any information you have for me?" Abaddon asked her.

Meg shook her head, putting on a regretful look. "They refused to divulge anything much. Only what we already know; that Crowley seems to have teamed up with the Winchesters."

A flash of anger crossed Abaddon's face. "We'll have to track down more of his followers. I have demons out there already trying to find any trace of the Winchesters, but they are infernally hard to track down."

"Hence the idea to target other hunters?" Meg asked.

Abaddon glowered at her. "Exactly. But that won't work again. They will have warned everyone in their community to be on alert."

Meg shrugged. "I'm sure you'll think of something, my queen."

Abaddon glanced up at her again. "You did well, Meg. I am in need of a new torturer. Rest assured there will be more work for you soon."

"I look forward to it, your majesty; it's good to have a steady job again," Meg said, bowing slightly one more time before retreating from the room.

She glanced around, seeing the place oddly deserted of demons. Maybe Abaddon really did have a bunch of demons out looking for the Winchesters or maybe her numbers really weren't as many as they thought.

In either case, it looked like it was time to do a little snooping.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Meg wandered around the mostly empty corridors of the asylum that was formerly Crowley's lair and was now being utilized by Abaddon. She didn't really know what she was looking for, but she supposed she would know it when she saw it.

She almost passed a door that was like all the others in the hallway she was snooping down, but stopped and turned back when she caught a faint glow coming from the other side. Curious, she pressed her ear to the door and when she didn't hear anyone, she tried it.

Locked.

Meg smirked, reaching into her boot. It may have been locked against demons, but Dean had been giving her some lessons in lock-picking and supernatural locks didn't cover that.

It took her only a moment to pick the lock and then she pushed the door open, stepping into the room.

She stopped, eyes blowing wide at what she was seeing.

Yeah, this was definitely the kind of thing she was looking for.

The room was full of shelves and on them were hundreds of glowing jars. They all sang with a certain frequency that Meg knew well.

They were human souls.

"Holy crap," she muttered.

The door swung open and she turned around, startled, to see a demon standing there, glowering at her.

"What are you doing in here?" he demanded.

Meg shrugged, casually moving over to the door. "Still trying to find my way around here."

"The door was locked," the demon guard said firmly, suspicion clouding his face.

Meg effected an innocent look. "Not when I got here. Look, if it was supposed to be locked, I promise I won't tell Abaddon it wasn't." She glanced back over her shoulder. "What is all this anyway?"

The demon stepped further into the room, looking around as if expecting something to be missing before he relaxed a little and turned back to Meg. "Human souls. Abaddon's harvesting them to make an army."

Meg frowned. "It takes centuries in Hell to turn souls demonic."

The demon smirked. "Not if you know how to cultivate them properly. And each and every one of these is guaranteed loyal to our cause."

Meg almost snorted. Yeah, any low-class demon loyal to a cause would be a major feat of engineering. She pretended to be impressed. "Wow, that's a pretty good plan. Crowley would never think of that." She headed toward the door. "I'll leave you to it then."

The demon watched her go and she closed the door behind her and strode off down the hallway.

That was really not good. If Abaddon was finding ways to make her own army, they had to act now. Meg had no idea how quickly Abaddon's method of turning human souls worked, but she didn't want to wait around to find out. This whole situation had just gotten that much more complicated.

She glanced around to make sure she was still alone and pulled out her phone. She sent a quick text to Castiel telling him when and where to meet her. This was information he and the Winchesters needed to know a.s.a.p.

Now all she had to do was come up with a way to get Abaddon to let her go off on her own. Looked like it was time to get a mission.

~~~~~~~

Dean pulled into a gas station with a sigh of frustration. He turned around to the backseat, glowering at Crowley.

"Okay, we have been scouring this area all day and so far, still no sign of this Cuthbert Sinclair guy."

The demon looked indignant. "I told you, my demons weren't able to track him to an exact location. He's completely warded. And before you think about it, no tracking spell will work either."

Dean rolled his eyes and got out of the car to pump the gas. Sam went to grab some food and Cas got out to stretch his legs while still keeping an eye on Crowley.

"Dean, I may be able to sense it if I look around," Cas said. "It's possible I can find where he's hiding because of the warding. Warding does tend to leave an absence that in itself is noticeable."

"You're welcome to try, Cas," Dean said. "Because if this has just turned into another dead end, I'm gonna throw Crowley back in the trunk."

"Always so hasty, Dean," Crowley quipped as he leaned out the window. "You do realize I want the ginger bitch dead as much as you do. If I could get you to Sinclair this instant I would."

Dean rolled his eyes and replaced the gas nozzle, screwing the cap back on. He glanced toward the store where he could see Sam at the counter, finishing up.

"I'll fly around for a while, and let you know if I find anything," Cas told him, then frowned and reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone. His eyes showed pure relief as he pulled up a text. "It's Meg, finally." He said then frowned again as he read it.

"What's up?" Dean asked.

"She says she needs to meet. Tomorrow. Apparently she has important information."

"Already? Wow," Dean said. "Now if we can only figure out where the hell to get a weapon to kill a Knight of Hell."

Sam came back with the food and coffee and Cas flew off to see what he could find. Dean sighed and got back in the car.

"Guess we have to wait again," he said. "Awesome."

~~~~~~~

It turned out, Meg didn't have to fake an audience with Abaddon like she had been planning to after all because the queen called on her again before the night was over.

"Your majesty?" Meg asked, really getting tired of this honorific crap.

"I have another prisoner for you to interrogate," Abaddon said. "My men brought him in earlier. Word has it, he spoke with Crowley just the other day and probably has the best knowledge of where the infernal salesman might be."

"I'll get him to talk," Meg assured her.

Abaddon smiled and nodded. "It would be very helpful if you would."

Meg left the 'throne room' and headed back to the dungeon portion of the building. One of the guards led her to the demon in question, locked in a room by himself and strapped to the rack. Memories of Crowley putting her on the rack reared their ugly head, but she shook them off and effected the confidence she'd once had when she had tortured for Alastair. Surprisingly, it didn't seem that hard to find. That kind of disturbed her in a way—which was even more bizarre.

She really had to figure out this emotional turmoil crap.

"So, not talking?" she asked him conversationally, as she went over to the tray of tools she had been left. She looked with displeasure at the assortment of medieval torture implements. She'd always prized herself with mostly keeping her hands clean. If she had to use anything, she preferred a simple blade—a lesson Alastair had taught her.

The demon sneered at her. "No, and I'm not going to say anything to you either, Meg," he spat. "I guess you finally found your leader."

Meg smirked slightly. "I still take care of myself first and foremost." Somewhat of a lie, but the demon would never know. "But I do need whatever information you have. It will help out a lot if we know where Crowley is."

The demon snorted. "Again, not telling you anything."

Meg shook her head, raising her hand. "Maybe this will loosen your tongue." She clenched her fist and reached out with her powers, causing the demon to hemorrhage. He choked up a gob of blood, and growled at her.

"That was just a taste," Meg told him, reaching into her coat and pulling out the angel blade. "But if you want to stay silent, we can do that too. By all means, make my day."

The demon was stubborn, but not unbreakable. Meg knew that. Most demons weren't and this guy had the look of an errand boy, someone that would give up information the instant the right pressure had been applied. Apparently, a few minutes with an angel blade was his threshold.

"Okay, okay, fine, but if I tell you this, will you put in a good word with Abaddon? I may be inclined to join her team."

"Of course," Meg lied, smirking. "Where's Crowley?"

"I don't know exactly where, but he's looking for some old collector."

"Why?"

"For a weapon to kill Abaddon," the demon said. "A few years ago, he had me and a couple other demons try to track him down, but we could only get so close because the guy was heavily warded."

"Where'd you track him to?" Meg asked.

"Some place in the woods just outside of Kansas City, Missouri."

"Good," Meg said with a smile.

"You'll tell Abaddon that I want to join her side?" the demon asked.

Meg continued to smile and picked her angel blade back up. "I'll let her know you were a big help. Don't worry."

"No!" the demon shouted as Meg stabbed him through the chest, watching him spark out. She yanked her blade free and wiped it on the demon's clothes before she pulled out her phone, texting Cas the tip about Kansas City.

"Your information dies with you, douchebag," Meg told the dead demon and left the room. She felt strangely energized, which was unusual for how she had felt recently after using her powers for extended periods. She frowned. Maybe her issues did have something to do with turning 'good guy' after all. What was even stranger was that she didn't like the way this felt; she actually would have rather wanted a nap. She needed Castiel. She always felt better when she was around her angel, even if her powers seemed weaker.

Damian was with Abaddon when she went back to the throne room and she glowered at him as he shot her a leer.

"Well?" Abaddon asked her.

"He said Crowley was in Missouri last he heard," Meg said—telling part of the truth was always best when fabricating tales, after all. "But that was all the information he had."

"It's not much to go on," Abaddon said, sounding somewhat displeased.

"I know, but if Crowley is in Missouri, then I may be able to track him from there."

"You?" Abaddon asked, raising an eyebrow.

"With your permission, of course, your majesty," Meg backtracked, pretending a humble mien. "I have contacts in the area that may have information for me. I thought I might go tomorrow to speak with them and if I can find an exact location on Crowley, then I will call and you can send more demons to apprehend him. No use wasting man-power unless there's reason to."

Abaddon watched her for a second then shrugged. "Very well. I hope your trip proves fruitful. You're both dismissed, I have things to see to."

Meg turned and strode from the room, annoyed as she heard Damian hurrying behind her.

"Hey, Meg, wait," he said.

"What?" she demanded, barely glancing over her shoulder.

"I was just wondering if you needed someone to go with you tomorrow."

"I prefer to work alone," Meg said firmly.

"Hold on," he insisted, and grabbed her arm, swinging her around so her back was to the wall and he was crowding into her, leaning over her small frame. Her skin crawled, but she forced herself not to show how it was affecting her.

"What do you want?" she growled.

Damian gave her a look of pretend hurt. "Come on, Meg, is that all you have to say to me? After all the times we spent together in Hell?"

"That was a long time ago," Meg said. "Back when we were both working for Azazel. Now I have work to do that I don't need your help with." She tried to push away from him, but he shoved an arm against the wall to trap her.

"You've changed," he said, giving her a lingering look up and down. "I'm not exactly sure how, but you're different."

"Yeah, I am," she said, and pulled her angel blade out, pointing it directly at his groin. "But not that much. I'll still stick this where it hurts most if you don't get the hell out of my face."

He chuckled, finally stepping back and holding his hands up. "All right, just trying to catch up with one of my old friends."

Meg snorted. "Whatever we were once, Damian, it was never friends."

He shrugged. "Well, just let me know if you change your mind about needing backup tomorrow—or, you know, if you want to have a little fun." The leer was back on his face and what she wanted to do was carve it off with her angel blade.

"Thanks, I won't." She replied, shoving past him and heading to her quarters. She certainly didn't need the kind of crap Damian was going to bring her right now. She decided she wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he got to be too much of a problem.

Right now though, all she was doing was counting down the hours until she saw Cas again.

~~~~~~~

Castiel rejoined the Winchesters and Crowley when they stopped for the night at a motel. He'd scoured the general area and even further afield but had found nothing. Perhaps the place was too well warded for even him to not see.

"Hey, anything?" Sam asked as Castiel came into their motel room and slumped on one of the chairs at the small table across from where the younger Winchester was looking at something on his laptop. Crowley was sitting on the couch watching the TV, not even bothering to look up when Castiel had come in.

"No," Castiel said dejectedly, rubbing a hand over his face. "I suppose you haven't found any special Men of Letters tracking spell, have you?"

"No." Sam shook his head. "We're kind of back to square one."

The door opened and Dean strode in, carrying a bag of food. "Hey, Cas—anything?"

Castiel shook his head and Dean threw the bag down on the table. "Well, we'll start combing on a grid again tomorrow then," he grumbled.

Castiel felt his phone go off in his pocket and pulled it out, seeing it was another text from Meg. He sat up straighter as he read it.

"Guys, Meg sent me a text, said she was interrogating a demon for Abaddon, and he said he was one of the demons that Crowley originally sent on the search for Magnus."

"Little bastard squealed?" Crowley demanded indignantly.

Dean rolled his eyes. "At least it was just to Meg. What's she say?"

"Well, she said the demons were able to track Magnus all the way to a forest outside of Kansas City, but couldn't find an exact location once there."

Dean turned to glower at Crowley. "You didn't tell us that before?"

The demon looked indignant. "I told you nothing about that was an exact science. For all we knew, they could have been following disturbances from an electrical line."

"Well, it seems like a better place to start than an unorganized grid search," Sam said.

"Agreed," Dean said. "We'll head there first thing in the morning, and Cas, you can go meet with Meg, see what else she has for us."

Castiel nodded. "Yes. Hopefully we'll be able to find Magnus."

"And hopefully he'll have what we need," Dean said.

"And be willing to part with it," Sam added.

"That's the least of our problems," Dean muttered as he sat down to eat.

Castiel glanced at his text again, wanting to send a message back, but knew how dangerous it could be if anyone were to see Meg's phone. He would see her tomorrow anyway.

Sometimes he wondered how he could feel so empty without a demon beside him, but he didn't worry about that over much. She had been with him at his lowest, and had helped pull him from the depths of his own despair after what Naomi had done to him. She had been right there with him the whole way. It was impossible not to form attachments to people in those situations.

He tucked his phone away. They all deserved a normal life—or as normal as it would ever get for them. But first they would have to get rid of Abaddon.

Hopefully they would be able to do that sooner rather than later.

~~~~~~~

Meg decided to leave an hour before the time she had set Castiel to meet her to make it look like she was doing something. It didn't really matter though, because Abaddon probably wouldn't notice she had left anyway. She seemed to have other things on her mind.

However, on her way out, Meg nearly ran into Damian, standing around at the entrance to the asylum with a couple other demons.

"Hey, hoped we'd catch you," he said. "Abaddon said to come with."

"And I said I worked alone," Meg replied firmly.

Damian glowered at her. "You would disobey the queen?"

Meg just barely kept from rolling her eyes. "She didn't tell me I needed anyone to babysit me yesterday. Besides, my contact won't speak to anyone but me. They'll run if they see you there."

"That's fine, we'll hang back when you go to meet your contact," Damian said smoothly. "But if you find out where Crowley is, then we aren't just going to let you go after him alone and get all the glory."

This time Meg did roll her eyes. "Seriously? That's what this is about? Good standing with Abaddon?" Of course it was; why did she expect anything else? That was just how demons worked, after all.

Damian smirked. "What did you expect?"

"Yeah," another demon spoke up with a sneer. "It's not like we're going to let a traitor like you get all the credit for taking down Abaddon's public enemy number one."

Meg sighed, knowing she wouldn't sway them, and it wasn't like they were going to find Crowley anyway. "Fine, but you stay out of my meeting, or I'll stick this angel blade in your neck," she said flashing the hilt inside her jacket.

Damian gave her a smirk she didn't like at all. "Of course, sweetheart."

She would have stabbed him right there if she hadn't been in a hurry to get the hell out of this place. She jerked her head at the other demons. "Come on them. But this is still my mission and you follow my lead, or else."

They slipped through the void and landed in a public park far enough away from her meeting point with Cas that they shouldn't catch wind of him—if they stayed where they were told.

"Just…stay here until I come back," she growled. "Do not follow me."

But just then, several figures stepped out of the trees nearby and she saw instantly that they were demons.

"Crap," she muttered.

"Who the hell are you?" Damian asked them.

"We're with Crowley," one of the demons said, folding his arms over his chest. "And I'm guessing you're Abaddon's bitches."

Meg stepped forward, pulling out her angel blade. "We are. You thinking of joining the winning side?"

The demon smirked and nodded to his boys. "Nah. Actually thinking about how much info we could get out of you if we take you back to our boss. And there's also the matter of that reward out for your head, Meg." His eyes flashed black and he leered.

Meg rolled her eyes as Damian whistled. "Ooh, you really are in bad standing with Crowley."

"Shut up and help me take them," she snapped.

It was a short, vicious fight, but Meg and the other demons took Crowley's men out. A couple lay dead, and the others, they took captive. So yeah, maybe technically she was working with Crowley, but she didn't give a damn about killing off a few of his scum demons.

"We need to get them back to Abaddon," she told the other demons, wiping her blade off on a corpse. "I'll stay here and look around to make sure there's no more and then head off to meet my contact."

"You sure you don't want me to stay with you?" Damian asked.

"No," Meg snapped. "Make sure those demons don't escape."

"Okay then, see you later, Meg."

She didn't like the oily smile Damian sent her, but didn't have time for him. She slipped off through the void again, stopping at several places before getting to her destination. She stopped outside of a rundown motel that had one car in the parking lot and didn't bother going in to pay for a room. Perks of being a supernatural creature.

She chose an unoccupied room. She almost texted Cas, but knew he would be there soon. She quickly put a couple sigils of warding up so no one could listen in on their conversation, and sat on the bed when she had finished, enjoying the solitude for a moment. She'd forgotten how annoying it could be putting up with a bunch of demons who were all only interested in their own personal gain and wanted to stab everyone in the back who got in their way. And, okay, once she hadn't been any different, but she'd changed a lot. Mostly because of one insufferable, and yet incredibly handsome, angel who had forced his way into her life against her will.

Not that she had put up much of a fight.

There was a knock on the door then, and Meg got up to open it. The blue-eyed angel in the trench coat stood there, and a small smile of relief graced his lips.

"Meg."

"Hey, Clarence," she said and couldn't help smiling back, a little mischievously. "Feels sort of illicit, meeting in a motel room like this."

He gave her a longsuffering, yet fond, look and came inside, closing the door behind him, before he bent and cupped his hand on the back of her head, pulling her forward into a kiss. Meg melted for a moment, then sighed after he had pulled away, already wishing for more. But she needed a clear head to tell him what she had found out.

"Have you been well?" Cas asked her, going to sit on the side of the bed as she stood, pacing a few steps back and forth.

"I'm fine," she said, a little vaguely. He cocked his head to one side, obviously not buying it and she grunted, folding her arms over her chest. "As fine as can be expected anyway. I hate that bitch Abaddon and I can't wait to find something to stab her in the face." She raised her eyebrows expectantly. "Have you found anything yet?"

"We're still trying to track down a former Man of Letters who Crowley thinks has something that can kill her." He sighed. "It's just been a long process. But with the information you sent, I think we're getting closer."

"Well, at least I didn't torture that bastard for nothing," Meg grumbled. "I was pretty rusty."

Castiel gave her a pained look. "I'm sorry you had to do that."

Meg smiled, unable to help reaching out and stroking his cheek. "I don't care about torturing a few demons. It's just having to do it for Abaddon that's the problem. But I have more important things to discuss." She began pacing again. "Abaddon has a plan, it seems. A plan to build an army."

Castiel frowned. "Besides trying to recruit all the demons she can?"

Meg nodded. "Yeah. Apparently she thought that it would be best to create an army that was specifically loyal to her." She stopped moving and turned to meet Castiel's eyes. "She's farming souls, Cas."

The angel cocked his head. "I'm sorry, what?"

"She's taking human souls and turning them into demons," Meg explained. "And it seems that she's found a quicker way to do it than we did in Hell."

"That's not good," the angel replied blandly.

"No, it's not," Meg said. "But…it is an effective plan. Demons are known for infighting—hell, there's so much of that there. Making an army from scratch may actually cause her to win."

"We won't give her that chance."

"No, I know. But we have to stop her soon. And frankly I don't know how much longer I can stand to 'your majesty' and play the ass-kisser anymore."

Meg pressed her hand to her forehead, sighing. "I hate demons," she growled. "They're all the same, every one of them. I had almost forgotten what working for them was like. Why I'm damn glad I got out of Hell when I did. And now it's not just Abaddon but Crowley too—and we're actually working with him!"

"It is unfortunate, but also necessary." Castiel gave her a sympathetic look from where he sat on the bed, but his mouth quirked into almost a fond smile as well. She glowered at him.

"What's so funny?" she demanded.

He shook his head, but the smile only widened. "Nothing, it's just you do realize you are a demon, right? It's just amusing that you are so against them."

Meg folded her arms over her chest. "Yeah, technically. But I hope I'm not as insufferable as the rest of them."

Castiel's face softened again into that adoration that made her melt. He reached out and took her hand, pulling her close to him until she was standing between his knees, his hands moving to her hips. "Never. You are special, Meg. Believe me."

Meg desperately wanted to. Everything that had gone down recently had her feeling closer to her old ways than the new life she had carved out for herself. With Castiel, however, she felt some of her better parts coming back. The darkness receding a little bit. She still wasn't sure what exactly to make of it.

She leaned over, cupping Castiel's face between her hands as she lowered her mouth to his. The taste of him brought a sense of relief to her. She pulled back, smiling.

"Maybe you should remind me then, angel," she said cocking one eyebrow flirtatiously.

Cas hummed. "You don't need to get back?" he asked, but was already pulling her toward him.

"I need you more," she said, slipping her hands down to loosen his tie, undoing the buttons of his shirt underneath.

Castiel gave an amused huff of acceptance and leaned back, pulling her into his lap as she straddled his waist.

Meg got his shirt open and leaned into him to press her mouth to his, tugging his clothing off his shoulders, until she felt him sliding her shirt up and she broke the kiss for a second to allow him to remove it, shivering with pleasure as his strong, warrior's hands slid across her bare skin.

Castiel lay back on the bed, taking her with him, and for a while Meg was able to forget all about Abaddon and the fate of the world, simply lost in the touch of her angel.

~~~~~~~

But they both had duties, and Cas had to relay her information to the Winchesters too, so Meg reluctantly bid him goodbye all too soon, hating the idea of going back to Abaddon's lair.

As they left the motel room, Meg stopped Castiel once, gripping his tie and tugging him down into one final kiss.

"Please be safe," she pleaded.

Cas let out a huff. "You too."

"Oh, and by the way, if Crowley wonders what happened to his men that were in the area, don't tell him it was me."

Castiel shook his head with an amused quirk of his lips and stroked her cheek gently. "Of course, I won't."

Then he departed. There was an almost indistinguishable pop in the ether around him as Cas spread his wings and then he was gone, leaving Meg alone, and genuinely hating it. Damn her for getting so used to having backup and, yes, friends. Real comrades.

But she steeled herself for what was to come, and started back to Abaddon.

Unfortunately, she missed the eyes watching everything from across the street.

~~~~~~~

Dean, Sam and Crowley stood in a clearing in the woods, right in the center of the area the demons were supposed to have tracked Cuthbert Sinclair to.

"Are we sure this is the place?" Dean asked then turned to Crowley. "You feel anything?"

Crowley shook his head. "No, but if it's as heavily warded as I suspect it is, I probably wouldn't be able sense it."

Dean rolled his eyes, throwing his hands up. "Great. So, how do we get in?"

There was the sound of flapping and Cas appeared in a flurry of leaves.

Dean glanced over as he appeared, looking slightly ruffled. "Dude, there you are. What took you so long?"

Cas shrugged, not meeting Dean's eyes. "Meg had a lot to report." He cleared his throat. "Very important information."

"Uh-huh, I'll bet she did." Dean narrowed his eyes at the angel. "Next time it would be more convincing if you fixed the sex-hair."

Cas' hand went to his unruly locks and he blushed slightly. Dean smirked and Cas glowered at him.

"She did bring us important news. Abaddon is stealing souls and turning them into demons for an army."

"What?" Sam asked. "She can do that topside?"

Crowley frowned, but didn't interject. Dean watched him, though. If even the King of Hell looked worried, then this really was bad.

"Well, doesn't change the fact we need to stop her as soon as possible," Dean said. "We just have to figure out how to get this Magnus dude to open up."

"Well, he probably wouldn't be likely to open to demons," Sam stated wryly. "But if there's a chance he's watching, then maybe he will open to Men of Letters." He reached into his jacket pocket and took out the box that held the key and stepped further into the clearing, holding it up. "Magnus? I'm Sam Winchester, my brother and I are Legacies. If you can hear us, we just want to talk. It's important."

Nothing happened for a long time, then Cas looked up as if he had felt something.

"Sam, Dean," the angel said quietly, before a distortion began in the air in front of them, swirling waves of smoke, before it formed into a glowing vortex that looked like some kind of portal.

Sam glanced over at Dean, but before he could say anything, they were all sucked inside.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some lines taken from 9x16 "Blade Runners"

Dean blinked in shock as the vortex faded and they found themselves in a long hallway inside a rich-looking house. Classical paintings lined the walls, and tables held statues and vases that probably cost a fortune. There was the distant sound of music playing somewhere further in the house.

Dean glanced at Sam and Cas, then looked behind him to see that Crowley had made it too.

"Love what he's done with the place," Crowley said, looking around.

"Little weird," Dean muttered.

"Yeah," Sam said with a frown. "Though I have to hand it to him, he really did a good job at concealing his house."

"Where is he though?"

"Why don't you go look instead of yakking?" Crowley snipped.

Dean shot him a look, and pointed a finger at him. "You shut up. And don't try anything."

Crowley folded his arms over his chest. "How many times do I have to explain that I'm currently—unfortunately—on your side? Besides, you don't have to worry about me. I have no powers in here. It's warded too heavily."

Dean raised his eyebrows. At least there was something good about this.

"I don't either," Cas spoke up with some annoyance. "Nor will I be able to fly out of here if anything goes wrong." Okay, maybe not so good.

"What is there to go wrong? This guy should be on our side," Sam said.

Dean gave him a look. "Really? You're betting on that?"

Sam shrugged. "Benefit of the doubt?"

Dean grunted and nodded in the direction the music was coming from. "Let's go."

He took the lead and continued down the hallway, coming to a corner where there was a flight of stairs, and another long hallway that looked like it opened into a room at the end. Dean nodded, and set off in that direction, when a flash of movement came to his right and Cas shouted out a warning right before a hissing figure leapt directly at him.

"Dean!" Sam cried, as Dean saw another figure come up and attack his brother.

Dean managed to hurl the figure, a woman—a vampire from the looks of her fangs—off of him and onto the ground. Cas instantly had his blade out and hacked her head off. Dean drew a machete he had strapped on just in case and spun around toward his brother who was desperately fending a second vamp away from his throat. Dean grabbed it by the back of the coat and yanked it away before beheading it too.

"You okay?" he asked Sam worriedly, looking around for more enemies.

Sam was breathing heavily, touching his neck, but there was no blood there. "Yeah."

A slow clapping sounded from down the hall and they all turned to see a middle-aged man standing there, dressed in a suit and bowtie, a smile on his face as he gave them applause.

"Bravo," he said. "Well done."

"Cuthbert Sinclair?" Sam asked.

The man winced. "Magnus, please. Come on in, it seems we have something to discuss."

Dean glanced between Sam and Cas, both looking somewhat suspicious, especially after getting attacked by vampires, but Crowley sighed and pushed through them.

"Yes, we do."

"Excellent, come in," Magnus said as he beckoned them into the room at the end of the hall. Crowley turned to them, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

Dean rolled his eyes but followed Magnus and the demon into what looked like an old fashioned sitting room-cum-museum.

"Please, sit," Magnus told them.

Sam and Dean took one of the couches, and, with some pointed glares, Cas and Crowley took another. Magnus went over to a sideboard and began pouring drinks for all of them.

"Sorry about all the theatricality," he said. "I just wanted to see what you were made of."

"So, what are we, underground?" Dean asked him, looking around, noticing for the first time the lack of windows.

"No," Magnus said after passing out the drinks and sitting down. "My fortress was right where you were standing, but it's invisible."

"Well, it's definitely impressive," Sam admitted. "I've never seen any spellwork that could do that." Dean rolled his eyes. Trust his geeky brother to get all giddy about the spell.

"Yes, the Men of Letters never did see my true potential, so it was their loss when they forced me out," Magnus said. "I haven't had to worry about them for fifty-seven years or so."

Dean snorted. "Well, you're looking good for a guy pushing—what, ninety?"

"Well, thanks, sport," Magnus said, making Dean slightly irritated. "There's a spell for damn near everything. I am impressed though; you did exactly what you should have done. Though I will miss those two from my zoo."

Dean and Sam frowned at each other but Cas was the one who spoke up. "Your zoo?"

Magnus smiled, glancing between all of them. "Oh, gentlemen, you are in the midst of the greatest collection of supernatural rarities and antiquities on the planet." He leaned forward. "I'm sorry, did you say you were Men of Letters? I thought that whole thing died out after '58?"

"Well, we are legacies, but actually we're hunters," Sam said.

Magnus started laughing. "Hunters? Wow, hunters, with the key to the kingdom. The boys must be spinning in their graves—damn snobs. Bunch of librarians, if you ask me. Although, I was always fond of Henry. I was his mentor you know, until the squares gave me the boot." He looked off into the distance as if reminiscing. "Course, he came here to visit me in secret. Called out to me the same as you did, oh yes. Quite the wild hare, your grandfather was."

"This is a lovely chat, and I really hate to interrupt," Crowley cut in and Dean glared over at him. "But we have a situation, and we don't have time to sit here reminiscing about the days of old."

Magnus glanced at him, a calculating look on his face. "Oh, I'm sure you do have a situation. Otherwise, I would see no reason for a demon to be working with two hunters. I imagine it must indeed be serious."

"It is," Dean spoke up. "It's Abaddon. The Knight of Hell. She's looking to up her paygrade and take over the place."

"Things never change, do they?" Magnus said. "I kept telling the boys, over and over again; I would say, we could stop all this! We could rid the world of monsters once and for all if we just put our minds to it. But oh no, they said, it's not our place, we're here to study. We're here to catalogue."

"Yeah, no I get it, they're uh, geeks," Dean cut in. "But she can be stopped." Dean nodded over at Crowley. "Word has it, you have something that can do that."

Magnus' gave a thoughtful look. "Hmm, well, yes I do. In fact, I have several things that could potentially stop a Knight of Hell." He stood up and went over to a glass case against one wall. The others all stood as well, following him. "The most effective choice would be this." he gestured to something that looked more like a bone than a blade. Dean frowned as he studied it further and saw that it was actually a bone—a jawbone from the look of it, with teeth still intact.

"What the hell can that do?" he asked.

"You idiot," Crowley hissed. "That's the First Blade."

"It's what was used to kill off the Knights of Hell originally," Cas added, his voice grim.

"And it needs the bloody Mark of Cain to power it up," Crowley said.

"Which is a bad idea," Cas said firmly, shooting a pointed look between the two Winchesters.

Dean narrowed his eyes, slightly offended at Cas' unspoken accusation. "Okay, we'll nix that one, then."

Magnus shrugged, and opened the case up. "Well, no need to worry, we have other things that will work." He pulled out a wooden box, and presented it to Dean and Sam, opening the lid. "Like this."

Dean's eyes blew wide, his breath catching in his throat as he saw what the box contained. An old six-shooter nestled there in velvet cushioning. Dean couldn't help but reach out and take it from its box, feeling its weight in his hands.

"Is that…?" Sam breathed, seeming just as speechless.

"The Colt," Dean said almost reverently and then raised it to sight down the barrel.

"Ah, so you know what this is?" Magnus said, with a pleased smile.

"Hell yeah we do," Dean said. "Where'd you get this?" The last time he had seen this had been when they had gone back in time to get phoenix ash to kill Eve. He didn't think he'd ever see the gun again.

"It's amazing what comes up at auctions sometimes," Magnus said. "The only problem is it doesn't have any bullets."

"We know how to make them," Sam said quickly, then looked over at Cas and Crowley. "This will kill her?"

"It kills all demons," Crowley said. "If it kills a Prince of Hell, it can surely kill a Knight."

Dean reluctantly nestled the gun back into the box before he reached to take it from Magnus. "Thanks for this. We'd love to stay and chat, but, you know, we gotta get going now."

Magnus suddenly stepped back and slammed the box shut almost on Dean's fingers. "Ah-ah, not so fast."

Dean glowered at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Magnus said slowly as if Dean were an idiot. "That this is a very expensive and dear part of my collection. I'm not just going to let it go." He chuckled dryly as if the idea were utterly ridiculous.

"The world is in danger," Sam scoffed. "Isn't that good enough for you?"

"Frankly? This place I've carved out for myself is very self-sufficient. It is untouchable by anything supernatural and apocalyptic. No matter what Abaddon does, I'll be safe here."

"Well, awesome—we won't," Dean growled.

Magnus still smirked at him. "Come on, boys. You couldn't really have thought I'd give you something for free, did you?"

Dean opened his mouth, but Sam stepped forward, anger clearly on his face, but he pulled out the demon knife and held it out. "What about this? It kills demons."

"Hmm," Magnus gave it an interested look, considering the knife as Dean bit his tongue to keep from protesting the trade. "It's a nice piece, but there's something else I want more."

"What?" Dean demanded.

To his shock, Magnus' eyes turned to fall on Cas. "An angel, for my zoo."

~~~~~~~

Meg and her tag-alongs made it back to Abaddon's lair after a "fruitless" mission. She had led them on a merry chase to find Crowley from information her "contact" had given her but it had turned out to be a bust. Shame.

Damian was not happy, but she chose to simply ignore him and the other demons as she went to Abaddon to make her report.

The red-headed Knight looked at her blandly after she had bowed.

"Considering that Crowley is not chained up and at your mercy, I can only assume that your mission failed," Abaddon said.

Meg bristled at her tone. "Your majesty, it was either faulty information, or Crowley simply had moved on by the time we got there. We will keep looking."

"Get out," Abaddon growled, waving her hand dismissively. "Go interrogate those demons you brought in earlier. I would warn you to make yourself more useful before I find more demeaning tasks to set you on."

Meg pressed her lips together, forced a bow and left the room, shouldering past Damian who had lingered at the door and smirked at her. She sneered back at him. Not that she cared what Abaddon thought of it, it was just bringing back old memories of Hell that she would rather not remember. She couldn't wait to get out of here. Instead, she turned her thoughts back to her angel and the lovely moment they had shared together that afternoon that had been over all too soon. She hoped Castiel and the boys had been able to find that Magnus what's-his-name and get something that could gank Abaddon. She couldn't wait for the bitch to bite it.

Still, at least they were one step closer to finishing this. She couldn't wait to go home.

~~~~~~~

"What?" Dean demanded, nearly in shock after hearing what Magnus said. "Hell no!"

Magnus smirked, eyes firmly planted on Cas. "I've been looking for an angel for a very long time. It would be more than a fair trade."

Cas glowered at him, but Sam spoke up first. "Cas isn't a bargaining chip!"

"He's our friend, you dick—he's family," Dean snarled.

"Then I guess you'll have to find another way to kill your Knight of Hell," Magnus shrugged.

Crowley groaned and rolled his eyes. "Look, boys, I know you're attached to your halo here, but this is for the greater good!"

"Are you freakin' kidding me right now?" Dean demanded.

"Then I can get another angel for you, there's plenty of them up there," Crowley said.

"No, you will not," Cas said firmly, then turned back to glare at Magnus. "And I am not going to live in your zoo as some specimen for your amusement."

Magnus sighed and tucked the box with the Colt under his arm. Dean resisted the urge to just grab it, but he caught Sam's eye and the younger man seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"You wouldn't be a side-show attraction, you would be my companion! Angels are far more interesting than vampires or shapeshifters. You're intellectuals, and it gets lonely here. I miss having people to talk to."

"Try online dating, pal, Cas isn't going to stay here just to entertain you," Dean snapped.

Magnus finally turned back to him and Sam, a somewhat annoyed look on his face. "You know, you two are really starting to annoy me. Your grandfather, he was a good guy, but you? Well…you're too much like every other hunter I've ever met, and I think I've lost my patience with you."

Before Dean could react, Magnus reached toward a table, picked up some kind of powder that sat there in a bowl and blew it toward Crowley. The demon disappeared with a surprised cry. Dean drew his machete again and rushed forward, but Magnus took up more powder, said something that sounded like Chinese and the blade began to glow brightly until it became too hot to hold. Dean dropped it with a grunt, and then found that he couldn't move. At all.

"Dean! Sam!" Cas cried.

Dean darted his eyes sideways toward Sam and saw his brother frozen too, his gun half pulled from his coat.

Magnus smirked. "Good boys. Stay," he said condescendingly.

"What did you do to them?" Cas demanded, taking a step forward.

"Just a little immobilization spell, it won't harm them. Unless you try anything, angel, then I won't hesitate to use them as leverage."

Dean growled low in his throat, unable to make any more sound than that. His tongue and mouth were just as frozen as the rest of him.

"We don't have time for this," Cas said firmly and stepped forward, reaching into his coat for his blade.

Magnus stepped back, grabbing a dagger from a nearby display and pressing the sharp tip to Sam's throat.

"Try anything, and your friends will suffer," he said. "Don't believe me?" He brought the blade up, and sliced it down the side of Sam's face. The younger hunter grunted and Dean furiously tried to move, but was still stuck fast.

"You bastard," Cas growled. "You realize you've just sealed your fate by threatening my friends? I will never comply to your wishes, even if you lock me up, you will have to watch your back forever because if I find one opening, I will take it and I will kill you."

Magnus raised an eyebrow. "Really? And if I take your will away?"

Dean's heart skipped a beat. What the hell was he doing now?

Magnus pulled out the Colt, keeping it trained on the Winchesters as he approached Cas. The angel backed up until he was against a marble pillar, halting his progress. He stared Magnus down defiantly as the man crowded into him.

"Because I will. I've done it with all my creatures. That's why they obey me. And you will too, eventually. You won't even remember who Sam and Dean are anymore."

Dean watched in horror as Magnus raised his free hand to Cas' forehead, and started to chant something.

But Cas acted fast. He grabbed Magnus' wrist and spun him around to slam against the pillar with a flash of steel. His angel blade was soon pressed against the ex-Man of Letters throat as he leaned in close.

"No one will ever control me again," he snarled. "Least of all a mere human like you."

Magnus smirked and began to chuckle coldly. He brought the Colt up and aimed it toward the Winchesters. "Then I'll at least take your friends from you."

But Cas was already moving. His blade a flash of silver, followed by a ribbon of red. Magnus' eyes flew wide, and he gurgled once before he slid to the ground. Cas stepped back to let his body fall.

The spell released its hold on Dean and Sam and they staggered, gasping for breath.

"Cas!" Dean cried, unsure what else to say.

"What the hell?" Sam demanded.

Cas looked slightly sheepish. "He gave me no choice. I was not going to let him kill you, or put me in his zoo." His face darkened, a haunted look coming over his eyes before he shook himself and bent to retrieve the Colt that had fallen from Magnus' limp fingers. "We got what we came for at least."

Dean took the gun from him and tucked it carefully into his coat. He noticed Cas' hand trembling as he handed the weapon over and he grabbed the angel's shoulder. "Cas, hold up, are you all right?"

The angel looked away quickly, and took a shuddering breath. "I do not want to be controlled again, Dean. Ever."

Sam set a hand on his back and nodded sympathetically. "I get that, Cas. I've been possessed before, done things I couldn't control. It's not a good feeling, it takes a long time to get over."

"But he's not gonna do that," Dean assured him. "And neither is Naomi. You killed that bitch, remember?"

Cas took another deep breath and nodded. "I know." He looked down at Magnus' body again. "Let's just go."

"Hell yes," Dean said.

It took them a little while, but they eventually found the door and when they did, they found Crowley waiting back out in the clearing beside the Impala. Dean was slightly disappointed that he hadn't been disappeared for good.

"There you are, I was getting worried," the demon said blandly.

"I bet," Dean muttered.

"Did you at least get the Colt?"

Dean nodded. "Yup. Operation Kill Abaddon is now officially in session."

"Brilliant. Let's hope it goes better than Operation Valkyrie," Crowley said.

Sam's eyes widened as he turned to the demon. "Wait…did you…?"

Crowley just raised an eyebrow and got into the back of the Impala.

Dean opened his coat and glanced at the Colt just to make sure it was still there. He really hoped this worked because he was all for going back to regular hunts again.

Sometimes, he got really tired of them being the only ones who were able to save the world.


	7. Chapter 7

Meg felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and ducked into an alcove to check it. She saw with relief that it was a text from Cas saying that they had gotten what they needed and where they were now. Thank whoever was listening. Meg was more than ready to be done with this whole charade.

"Booty call?"

Meg snapped the phone shut and spun around to see Damian leaning over her shoulder. How had she not even realized he was there?

"Just seeing if any of my other contacts know anything about Crowley," she said, shoving past him.

"Is that so?" Damian asked, keeping up with her determinedly and, curse her meantsuit's short legs, she wasn't able to escape him. She spun around and faced him instead.

"Okay, do you have a problem with me or something?" she demanded. "Is it because I came in here and Abaddon already seems to trust me more than she does you?"

Damian gave a small smile and that annoyed Meg more than anything. "Are you sure about that? Especially after today, I'm not so sure you're in her good graces anymore."

"And exactly what do you do for her?" Meg asked. "At least I'm trying to find Crowley."

"Are you?" Damian crowded into her and trapped her against the wall, one arm blocking her escape. "Because there was no sign of Crowley having even been in the area we checked today."

"His demons were. And so what if it was faulty info. Not all my contacts are good. I just go with what I can get and I figured it was best to check it out anyway. I told you not to waste your time tagging along."

"So this contact wasn't any good?" Damian smirked knowingly in a way that got right under Meg's skin. "Maybe I can help you instead."

"Just get the hell away from me," Meg snapped, shoving past him. "You know what, Damian, I always hated you. Nothing has changed. You are not working with me again. I'll find other demons to help me if I need it."

She strode off down the hall quickly and refused to look back even though she could feel Damian's eyes boring into her. What the hell was wrong with him? He had always been a creep, but…well, he was a demon. Meg didn't have time to worry about him. What she needed was to come up with a plan to get Abaddon out of here, or somewhere Cas and the Winchesters could meet up with her and they could gank the Knight of Hell together. That was her only goal. And when they had finished that, she was going to gank Damian too.

She went to her chambers and took a deep breath. Soon, she promised herself. Soon.

~~~~~~~~~

Damian passed the guards at the door to the throne room, and they gave him a dark stare as he ignored them.

Abaddon looked up from a book she was flipping through, her eyes hooded with anger. "I hope you have a good excuse for barging in here, Damian."

Damian bowed, smiling. "I do, your majesty. I come with more news. I know where Crowley and the Winchesters are."

~~~~~~~~~~

Castiel stared out the window of the Impala as they drove, his hands clenched tight in his lap. There was still some blood on the sleeves of his trench coat, which he would have to clean later. He didn't want to admit that if he moved his hands, they would only start trembling again.

The ferocity with which he had killed Magnus had surprised even him, but he couldn't really feel bad about it either. That man would have killed Sam and Dean in front of him just to get Castiel to stay in his 'zoo'. And when he had threatened mind control…Castiel had lost it. Like he'd told Dean, he would not be controlled like that again. Ever. Especially if he could be used to hurt the people he cared about. And he was sure that even if he had agreed to stay with Magnus, the man would have eventually forced him to get rid of the Winchesters himself.

It took him a few moments to realize they had stopped, and it was Sam leaning over the backseat, calling his name, that finally snapped him out of his trance.

"You okay?" Sam asked him, concern in his eyes.

Castiel shook himself and nodded, finally unclasping his hands and reaching for the door handle. "Yes. Just…tired." Tired of all of this.

Sam gave him a knowing look and a small sympathetic smile. Castiel climbed out of the car and breathed in the fresh air before he pulled his phone from his pocket and sent a quick text to Meg, realizing he hadn't told her yet that they had found the Colt. He also added their location as an afterthought in case Meg needed to know where they were. After that he went inside the small motel room that Dean had acquired and saw the elder Winchester setting the Colt on the table and Sam rummaging through their box of spell ingredients.

"I think I've actually got some bullets that will work for this," Dean said. "Then all we have to do is mix the spell and we're good to go."

"Except we still need a plan on how to catch Abaddon in order to use the Colt on her," Crowley said and glanced over to Castiel. "Hopefully your girlfriend has something up her sleeve."

"Meg will let us know the best time to strike," Castiel said. He just hoped she wouldn't get caught in the crossfire.

The bullets for the Colt only took a few minutes to complete and Dean loaded the gun, looking it over.

"Now the question is, does it work?" He trained it slightly in Crowley's direction and the demon quickly skipped to the side.

"Point that thing somewhere else, Squirrel. That spell should work perfectly fine. And in case you don't remember, you need me."

"I don't know, Crowley, you seem like dead weight to me," Dean shrugged, but put the gun down.

Crowley huffed, and looked around the room with disgust. "Now what? We just wait in this squalid dump until we get news?"

"Yup," Sam said. "Unless you got any better ideas."

"We could always call Abaddon out," Crowley said.

"Yes, and then she would expect foul play," Castiel said. "The best plan we could come up with is one where we catch Abaddon off guard, without her armies."

"Agreed," Dean said. "We just have to figure out how best to orchestrate that."

Suddenly the lights in the motel room started to flicker. Everyone was on their feet, reaching for weapons.

Dean looked around cautiously. "I'm guessing we can't hope that was just a simple power surge?"

"No," Crowley offered, slipping over to the window and peeking past the shade. "The place is crawling with demons."

"Abaddon?" Sam asked.

"No—not yet, anyway," Crowley said and turned around. "Well, it's been fun, but, you know, I have a reputation to keep." And with that he was gone.

"Dammit Crowley!" Dean yelled at the air as they grabbed their stuff. Castiel took up Crowley's position by the window, counting at least eight demons and probably more on the way. He turned around, sudden determination on his face.

"Sam, Dean, you have to go," he said firmly.

"What? Hell no!" Dean cried.

"What about you, Cas?" Sam demanded.

"Listen," Castiel said quickly, hoping they would see his point. "If I get captured, they'll take me to Abaddon."

"Yeah, and she'll torture you!" Dean said.

Castiel smiled slightly. "No, Meg is acting as her torturer right now. She'll have access to me. She can get me out and send you a signal and we can attack Abaddon and her demons from the inside and out. But you have to go now so the Colt doesn't fall into their hands. Without that, none of this will work."

"That is a monumentally stupid plan," Dean growled.

"Yes, but it's the only one we have," Castiel insisted and glanced out the window again, seeing the demons come closer. Sam tossed him a can of salt and he started pouring a line in front of the doors and windows. "I'll hold them off for as long as I can."

"Alright," Dean said finally even though Castiel could see it went against everything he believed in to agree. "Just don't get dead, okay?"

Castiel nodded. Sam clapped him on the shoulder and then they snatched their bags up and ran for the bathroom to get out the window there. Castiel hoped no demons were waiting on the other side, but to keep them from finding out, he strode to the door and swung it open, standing there with his angel blade held at the ready.

One of the demons who stood at the forefront of the group, grinned as he saw him.

"Ah, how typical. The Winchesters sending their attack dog out first."

"I could say the same for Abaddon," Castiel retorted. "She must be more willing to lose you than even her hellhounds if she sent you after us."

The demon at the head of the others snarled at that and strode forward. "You talk big for a fallen angel. You really think you can beat all of us? Can you even smite anymore?"

Castiel shrugged, casually twirling his blade. "Maybe, maybe not. It's your choice if you want to risk it."

The demon let out a sharp laugh and turned to his companions. "This angel thinks he's funny. We'll see how much you're laughing, halo, when our queen clips your pretty wings permanently."

They had slowly been surrounding Castiel while the lead demon was talking and he knew he wasn't getting free, but then, that was the plan. He may as well try to take down as many demons as he could in the process.

He raised his blade. "Who's first?"

The head demon lunged at him, and Castiel sidestepped, only to have two grab him from behind. He shook them off, stabbing backwards and catching one in the thigh. The demon howled and he pulled the blade free, lunging toward the snarky demon who had an angel blade of his own. They traded blows and Castiel took a hit from the hilt across the face.

"Where are the Winchesters, Castiel?" the demon asked him before leaping back as Castiel swung at him and then spun to stab another demon in the chest.

"What makes you think they were ever here at all?" Castiel asked him.

The demon's eyes flashed, but he smirked. "So you're saying you're here all on your own? No one's coming for back up?"

Castiel felt the other demons encroaching and he knew he was being hemmed in. He had to make this look good so he struck out and scored several more hits before one of the demons managed to snag his sword arm and wrenched it behind his back, twisting his wrist until he was forced to drop the blade.

Castiel struggled but his other arm was captured as well and manacles were snapped around his wrists, obviously sigiled, because his grace instantly locked down.

"What do we do now, Damian?" one of the demons holding Castiel asked the snarky demon who was watching the proceedings with a gleeful look in his eye.

"Check the room to make sure the Winchesters aren't hiding in there," he said. "Then we take the birdy back to Queen Abaddon." He punched Castiel in the face, hard, then again, even harder. Then he buried a fist in the angel's stomach, and Castiel doubled over with a grunt. He could taste blood from where his teeth had cut into his mouth and he spat a gob of it at the demon's feet.

The demon, Damian, grabbed his face roughly. "Sorry. It's just that Abaddon will hand you over to her torturer when we get back and I really just wanted to have a chance to punch you myself."

"The feeling is mutual," Castiel grunted, jerking against the demons' grip.

Damian pouted mockingly. "Aw, sorry to take away your fun. I'm having a damn good time, though." He brought his knee up into Castiel's stomach again then grabbed the back of his head and slammed the angel's face against his knee as well. Castiel saw stars and felt blood dripping from his nose. He glowered up at Damian who was grinning.

The demons he'd sent to check the room came back, shaking their heads.

"The Winchesters are gone. So is their car."

Damian shrugged. "Another day. We have their pet angel so they'll either show up for him eventually, or we'll get the halo here to tell us where his masters are."

Castiel grunted as he was jerked upright again and then came the sickening travel through the void.

He was spit out on the other end, staggering in the demons' hold as the darkness turned into a dimly lit room with a fancy chair on a dais at the head of it.

Abaddon had been sitting on that, but she rose at their arrival.

"Your majesty," Damian said, bowing low. "We've apprehended Castiel, the Winchester's angel, for you."

She looked slightly nonplussed. "And the Winchesters?"

Damian opened his hands. "Already gone when we got there. But with this halo, we will be able to find out where they are." He leered at Castiel. "I'm sure he knows a thing or two." Castiel glowered back at him.

Abaddon gave Damian a steady look. "I suppose we'll have to make do then."

"Perhaps your new interrogator will be able to get something out of him?" Damian asked, and shared a look with Abaddon that Castiel wasn't quite sure how to read. He frowned, a bad feeling settling into the pit of his stomach.

"Yes," Abaddon said and jerked her head toward the door. "Take the prisoner to the cells."

Castiel was dragged from the room and hustled down a long hallway before they made it to a door at the end. Damian opened it and the demons hauled Castiel inside and over to one wall where they proceeded to chain him, his hands suspended just above his head with the Enochian cuffs and more attached to his ankles to keep him from kicking.

Damian had his angel blade and he twirled it with a smirk. "Don't worry, we won't leave you long." Then he and the other demons chuckled and left the room.

Castiel watched the door close behind them and wondered whether he had made a big mistake or not.

~~~~~~~~

Meg was pacing in her quarters, waiting for the next text from Castiel or the Winchesters. She hadn't gotten another one since Cas had texted her about the Colt and where they were going to be staying the night. He didn't tell her to meet him though, so she had stayed put, but she didn't know what was taking them so long; they had the Colt, they should be getting together to make a plan to kill Abaddon!

She heard footsteps coming down the hallway outside and groaned. This was the last thing she needed right now! If Abaddon was going to ask her to torture another prisoner…

The door opened without a knock and Abaddon walked in.

"There's a new prisoner for you to torture," she said simply.

Meg nodded, refraining from rolling her eyes. "Of course, your majesty." She started toward the door before Abaddon stopped her, barring her way. Meg fought back her instinct to snap at her and gave the Knight a confused look instead.

"This prisoner is very important—the Winchester's angel, Castiel."

Meg's eyes nearly blew wide as she felt her heart seize, but she played off her surprise well, especially when she saw Abaddon watching her closely as if to gage her reaction. "You actually caught him?"

Abaddon smiled. "Damian got a tip." Meg cursed inwardly. Of course it was that bastard! "Unfortunately the Winchesters weren't with him, but you'll get him to tell us where they are."

Meg nodded, trying to keep her cool. "I'll see what I can do."

"Use any method you like," Abaddon said with a suggestive eyebrow. "But don't kill him. He may be useful leverage."

Meg nodded again and Abaddon finally let her through the door. Meg hurried through the building to the cells and went straight to the interrogation room. She took a deep breath as she pushed open the door and stepped inside.

Cas was chained to the far wall, looking a little rough, but he still managed to smile as he saw her.

"Hello, Meg," he said simply.

Meg slammed the door behind her and folded her arms across her chest. "Well, Cas, not that I don't like seeing you in handcuffs, but I'm the only one who gets to tie you up." She crossed the room until she was standing right in front of him. "I mean, what? You just couldn't wait to see me?"

Castiel sighed and gave her a fond look and, damn him, how could he possibly look so adorable and apologetic when he was chained up in a freakin' torture chamber? "I thought this was the best way. The demons surprised us before we could come up with a solid plan, and I sent Sam and Dean away with the Colt so we wouldn't all be captured."

"Oh yeah, that's a brilliant plan," Meg said. "How the hell did demons manage to find you?"

Castiel shrugged. "I have no idea. My best guess was one of them was in the area and happened to see us. You did say they were searching all over, right?"

Meg frowned. "Yeah, under my orders and in the wrong direction." Something about this wasn't right, and then she remembered what Abaddon had said. "Hold on, was the demon who captured you a tall, dark-haired douchebag named Damian?"

Castiel narrowed his eyes and nodded. "Yes."

"Dammit," Meg growled, running a hand through her hair, trying to decide how bad this actually was. "I knew he followed me the other day, he could have had eyes on you this whole time."

"What are you talking about?" Castiel asked.

Meg shook her head. "I'm not really sure, I just don't trust that bastard. But don't change the subject—your great plan was getting captured?"

"No, my plan was for you to get me out of here after I got captured, and we would attack from the inside while Sam and Dean—and Crowley if he shows up—attack from the outside."

Meg bit her lip. "I'm not sure that's the best idea."

Castiel frowned. "Why, is something wrong? How many demons are here?"

"Not many, most of them are out looking for Crowley and the Winchesters, but, Cas, I think something else might be going on here. I need to get more information before we call the Winchesters in." She turned for the door. "I'll be back."

"Meg," Cas called and she turned around to see a worried furrow between his brows. "Be careful."

She let out a sigh and stepped back toward him to give him a swift kiss. "I will."

She hurried from the cells and back toward Abaddon's throne room, putting on a nonchalant stride as she went in. Abaddon looked surprised to see her again so soon.

"Well?"

Meg shrugged. "He's stubborn, it will take a while to work him over. I'm playing the anticipation game right now, letting him think about what I'm going to do to him."

Abaddon watched her for a moment, before she got a sly look on her face.

"So, Meg, I've been meaning to ask you…" she said coming closer to the demon as Meg fought to stay calm as she stood her ground. "I'm curious…what's it like screwing an angel?"

Meg stopped, her heart skipping a beat before she forced a look of confusion on her face. "I'm sorry…what?"

Abaddon ignored her, leaning over so that she was looming over Meg's smaller frame. "Because that's all you're doing, right? Just a little forbidden fling here and there? You're certainly not relaying information to him, and you certainly haven't been working with the Winchesters this whole time, have you?"

Meg forced an indignant look on her face. "Of course not! I told you I only freelanced for them, there was no loyalty there."

"Hmm," Abaddon stepped back, musing slightly. "So, what Damian saw between you and that halo at the motel…?"

Meg bit back a curse. She was going to kill Damian. She folded her arms over her chest, raising an eyebrow. "I told you I was going to see an informant. I was…pumping him for information." She tossed her hair flippantly. "Sometimes seduction works just as good as a knife. But I should have known better than to trust his info. He may have figured out I was working for you before I went to see him."

"Hm," Abaddon made a sound of agreement and smiled. "Well, whatever works, as long as you get the information I need. Glad to know you're on our side."

"Of course, your majesty," Meg said, bowing slightly before she inched out of the room. When Abaddon didn't protest, she turned and left.

"Holy crap," she breathed, her hands shaking as she grabbed the phone from her pocket and hurriedly sent a text to Dean. They couldn't delay any longer. She was on thin ice and she could only BS her way out of certain death so many times. Typically this would be the time she would start running, but not now. Not anymore. She had too many people she cared about now. Unfortunately, it looked like it was just going to be a toss up of who Abaddon wanted to believe more: her or Damian.

Meg didn't want to take chances with those odds.

She grabbed the keys and flew back into the interrogation room, Castiel looking up at her with surprise as she entered.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"We're leaving, now," she said, bending to undo the manacles around his ankles. "Abaddon almost made me, thanks to that snake Damian. I already contacted the Winchesters, told them to meet us here, but I'm not waiting around for Abaddon to figure out whose story she believes."

Castiel nodded and Meg straightened to do the manacles on his wrists too, when the door slammed open and she nearly dropped the key in surprise.

She spun around, seeing Abaddon, Damian and several other demons there.

"Oh, honey, you're not going anywhere," Abaddon smirked.

 


	8. Chapter 8

Meg struggled as she was shoved towards a chair on one side of the room with built in restraints. Damian smirked as he manhandled her, and then slapped her across the face.

"Stop struggling or I'll personally skin your angelic boy toy over there," he sneered.

"Leave her alone!" Castiel snarled and while Meg was normally glad of his protective nature, he was just making this so much worse.

Damian laughed as he shoved Meg into the chair roughly and proceeded to strap her in. "Oh! This is too good. You actually care about her?" He grinned and grabbed a fistful of Meg's hair, wrenching her head back as he pressed his face close to hers, making her skin crawl. "You know… she used to be mine, back in Hell. And what a spitfire! Wouldn't have expected an angel to be able to handle this one. But then, she's hardly the demon she once was." Meg cringed as he pressed his mouth against her ear. "Maybe you need a demon to remind you what you used to be." His lips slid possessively down her throat as his hand groped inside her jacket, pulling out her knife and phone but lingering disgustingly.

"Give me one more reason to kill you," Meg told him coldly as Castiel strained at his manacles and spat curses he must have learned from Dean.

Damian chuckled and to her horrified disgust, he ran his tongue over her neck before he pulled away, handing her knife and phone over to Abaddon. "Maybe you still have some fire after all," he leered. "I like that."

"Touch her again, and I will kill you," Castiel snarled.

Damian raised an eyebrow at the challenge and leaned over, grabbing a fistful of Meg's hair and forcing his mouth against hers. She gave a muffled shout before she head-butted him and he broke away, slapping her across the face before he turned to Castiel.

"What are you going to do, halo? You can't kill me—you're a little tied up." he chuckled

Cas had gone dangerously calm. Meg knew this was when his enemies really needed to worry. "Maybe not right now. But the minute I get out of these chains, you are dead."

"I'm shaking," Damian said mockingly.

Abaddon was going through Meg's phone and she turned to the other demons. "The Winchesters are on their way. I want you all to be ready for them. They don't know they'll be walking into a trap."

Meg glanced over at Castiel, hating to see the distress in his eyes, how helpless he obviously felt watching Damian grope her. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

His brow furrowed and he shook his head. "It's my fault for coming here. It was a terrible plan. I was the one who broke your cover. And now the Winchesters will be captured as well."

"My cover was already blown," Meg sighed. She did have one thing going for her though. She had palmed the key before Damian had grabbed her. The only problem was that she couldn't get it to Cas. She was hoping that maybe, if she could swing things right, she would get the chance to pass it to him. If they could both get free, then maybe they could have a chance to fight their way out of here before the Winchesters got chained up too. Or at the very least go out together.

Damian went over to Cas and punched him heavily in the stomach, causing the angel to double over as far as his chains would allow. "You two make me want to throw up. I can't wait for you to watch me pluck all his feathers out, Meg."

Meg growled, jerking at her restraints, but there would be no moving them. They were demon proof anyway.

Abaddon sighed as she strode over to stand in front of Meg herself. "You know, I really hoped you would be one of the good ones. You had a lot of promise, but then you had to be a little traitor. I guess it's true; once a traitor, always a traitor."

"Wrong," Meg told her firmly. "I finally have found my cause. And it's not for any demon. Can't be a traitor if I was never on your side to begin with."

Abaddon snorted. "Yes—the Winchesters. They seem to inspire rebellion from all corners. Even Crowley isn't half the demon he used to be now that he's gotten so chummy with his human pals. The funniest thing about it is that you don't even realize what it's doing to you."

Meg glowered back at her. "What do you mean?"

Abaddon gestured at her. "You can't tell me you don't feel different. Weaker, less…demonic?"

Meg stayed silent, refusing to look at Cas even though she knew his eyes were on her. Yeah, maybe she did; she just still didn't know what that meant.

"Angels fall, they slowly lose their powers, become more and more human." She gestured to Castiel. "Demons stop being demons, their humanity comes back like a plague. You should thank me, really; those torture sessions had to have done something for you," Abaddon told her. "You were such a pathetic thing when you came here. I could see how weak you were, but I gave you a chance, had you torture for me, and it made you stronger, didn't it? Until you ran off to your angel again."

Damian took the cue of Castiel being mentioned to punch him in the stomach again. Meg seethed in fury as Abaddon continued, scoffing, looking like she couldn't believe the situation. "You actually think you love the halo. And true love breaks a demonic soul down more than anything else."

Meg swallowed hard, looking over to meet Castiel's eyes and despite everything felt how true her love for him really was.

"I thought I might be able to turn you into a loyal little follower, but, no, you were beyond my help," Abaddon sighed.

Meg smirked up at her. "That's because I never came in here wanting to work for you, you egotistical bitch."

Abaddon slapped her across the face and then forced Meg to look at her by grabbing a fistful of her hair and wrenching her head back until her neck hurt. Meg's face was numb from the blow but she still managed to put on a defiant look.

"I should kill you right now," Abaddon said. "You're more trouble than you're worth."

"No!" Cas shouted before Damian punched him in the face, knocking his head back against the wall.

"But I'd rather you watch me kill the Winchesters and your precious halo first," Abaddon added. "Watching everything you seemingly care about being taken from you is a fit enough punishment for a traitor."

Meg let out a short laugh. "I love how you keep calling me a traitor when I was never loyal to you."

"You were loyal to Hell once," Abaddon reminded. "And I am the new ruler."

"Not yet," Meg shook her head. "As much as I hate to admit it, Crowley still has more pull than you do." Frankly, she didn't know if that was true, and it probably wasn't, but a little BS didn't hurt. "You really think all the demons are going to want to go back to how it was when Lucifer ruled? Crowley has made them into businessmen and independent contractors. They're not going to want to go back to the militarized disorganization of the dark ages."

Abaddon laughed, finally letting go of her hair. "You talk big, but you know how it's going to go. The Winchesters will come in here, try to kill me, and I'll gut them then flay them alive."

Meg smirked. "I know you haven't been around here long, but the Winchesters have a track record of getting rid of evil things like you."

Abaddon snorted. "Evil things like me? And you don't fall into that category?"

Meg shrugged. "Perks of joining the team."

Abaddon narrowed her eyes. "And why do you think you're better? Because a pathetic fallen angel thought you were worth a roll in the sheets? That doesn't make you one of the good guys, honey, that just makes you a pathetic slut."

Meg fixed her gaze on Abaddon. "Not that you would understand love—and trust me, for a long time I didn't either—but the relationship Cas and I have is so much more than that. But all the same, you wanted to know what it was like to make love to an angel? It's pure. It feels like absolution. And Castiel is a thousand times better than any demon."

She glanced at her angel, and saw the slight blush on his cheeks, but it was worth it for the furious look on Damian's face.

Abaddon shook her head. "As if you could be redeemed," she scoffed. "How long do you really think this angel will love you? After he gets his dirty rebellious thrills from bedding a demon he'll throw you away just like everyone else has."

"That is not true," Castiel growled. And Meg knew it wasn't, but the words had still stung, driving deeply into her insecurities.

"Because face it, from what I've heard of you, every cause you fought for, Azazel, Lucifer…that never kept you from the other demons hating you," Abaddon told her.

"It's true," Damian sneered. "Even Ruby was a better demon than you. At least she played disloyal but was really a true soldier. You were the exact opposite."

"Those causes meant nothing," Meg said. "Yeah, okay, once I believed in them, but when I saw how rare it was that Lucifer or Yellow-Eyes made good on their promises…it just didn't seem worth it. I found better causes to give my loyalty to. Better people."

The door opened and a demon came in. "My queen, the Winchesters are here." Meg and Castiel shared a frantic look. What the hell were they going to do now?

"Good, you know what to do." Abaddon smiled and strode back over to Meg. "Well, honey, we'll see how loyal they are to you. Because things are about to get a lot worse for you and you friends." She nodded to Damian who handed her an angel blade. Abaddon tested it for sharpness and strode over to Castiel, gripping his chin firmly as she turned to smirk at Meg. "Now, what do you say we have a little fun to pass the time?"

~~~~~~~

It had been like pulling teeth, but as soon as they had gotten far enough away that it was unlikely the demons would find them, they had tracked down Crowley again and explained the plan.

The demon shook his head with a roll of his eyes. "I swear, you Winchesters. Can you ever come up with a plan that doesn't involve unnecessary derring-do?"

"Just shut up, and get us there," Dean said, checking that the Colt was fully loaded. "Meg just texted us and she's expecting us to make a move at any moment."

"Fantastic, because there's absolutely nothing about this that is going to go wrong," Crowley snarked. "Did you ever stop to think that Castiel and his tart might get kidnapped the instant they step out of the dungeon? Or, perhaps, that the well-know turncoat Meg has already traded loyalties again?"

"She wouldn't do that," Sam said firmly. Dean nodded in agreement. As crazy as it sounded, he couldn't deny he actually trusted Meg to stay loyal to them. She'd changed a lot in the last year.

Crowley shrugged. "Just stating the possibilities. Either way this is a terrible plan."

"Yeah, you've said that, now shut up and get us over there."

Crowley narrowed his eyes, folding his arms over his chest. "You do realize I'm doing you a favor."

Sam snorted. "Really? I thought we were doing you a favor. Yeah, you helped us track down the Colt, but besides that we've been doing all the work and taking all the risks."

"Why exactly do you think I hired you in the first place?"

"Dammit, Crowley!" Dean cried. "You want to save your kingdom? You want back on the throne? Sack up and take it! Your demons aren't going to flock back to you if you don't even try to lead."

Crowley narrowed his eyes at him, but then pressed his lips into a flat line. "I suppose you're right about that. Though the plan is still asinine at best."

"Yeah, we get it," Dean said. "But it was all we had."

"Then let's make sure it works," Crowley said and snapped his fingers.

Dean stumbled as they appeared in front of an old abandoned building. He sucked in a breath, looking around.

"Okay, so now what? How do we get in?"

"The back entrance; this way," Crowley pointed around to one side of the building.

Dean glanced at Sam who had his demon knife out, and they shrugged. Dean pulled out an angel blade. He kept the Colt hidden in his coat, not wanting to give their game away until they saw Abaddon.

He was glad he had his blade because the demons came out of nowhere.

He and Sam fought off a few of them, but then they just got supernaturally thrown into the ground and were forced to lay there, pinned as the demons surged forward and snapped manacles around their wrists.

"Crowley!" Dean yelled as he saw the demon standing off to the side having quickly gotten out of the line of fire. "You gonna help?"

"You tried your plan, now I try mine," he said and was gone before the demons could apprehend him.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean snarled as he was shoved onto his stomach and one demon's foot pressed into the back of his head.

"Two out of three ain't bad," the demon said before they hauled Sam and Dean to their feet.

They were dragged into the old asylum. Dean took note of the turns as they were led through the hallways and down an old cellblock to a door at the end of the hall. He recognized it from when they had come to rescue Meg from Crowley—it was the torture room.

He glanced over at Sam and gave his brother a longsuffering look. This did not look good. But then…maybe Meg had set it up this way, have all of them in one place so it would be easier for her to get them out.

One of the demons opened the door and shoved Sam and Dean inside. They stumbled and came to a halt.

Dean took in the scene at a glance and his heart fell. Abaddon and several other demons stood around the room. The Knight of Hell had a bloody angel blade in her hand, and she was standing next to Cas who was chained to the wall, shirt torn open and blood decorating his torso and face. Meg sat strapped to a chair a few feet away, looking a little rough as well.

"Welcome to the party," she muttered darkly.

"Son of a bitch," Dean growled.

~~~~~~~

Meg uselessly struggled against her manacles as Abaddon cut into Cas with the angel blade. Cas was trying to keep his shouts to a minimum, probably for Meg's benefit, but she could still see the pain etched on his face.

"Stop it, Abaddon, this isn't going to change anything!" Meg yelled as the Knight made a particularly mean cut across Castiel's ribs and the angel flinched to one side.

"Of course not; that doesn't mean it's not fun," Abaddon said with a smirk.

The door opened then and more demons appeared, dragging the Winchesters with them.

Meg felt the last of her optimism leave her. "Welcome to the party," she muttered as she jerked at her restraints one more time.

"Son of a bitch," Dean growled and the demons shoved them to their knees.

"Boys, nice of you to join us," Abaddon said, finally leaving Cas alone to stride over to them. She reached down and grabbed Dean by the chin, digging her nails into his cheeks. "Dean, honey, you don't look happy to see me."

Dean smirked. "Oh, that's where you're wrong, sweetheart, I'm actually thrilled."

Abaddon cocked an eyebrow. "Are you?" She crouched in front of him, her hands trailing down his chest. "I heard you brought me something." Her fingers grazed over his stomach and hooked into the waistline of his jeans. Meg saw Dean turn his face away in disgust and fury as she slowly moved her hands around behind him and then checked the pockets in his coat. "Ah, there it is." Her face lit up and she pulled a leather wrapped item out of his inner pocket. She unwrapped it and revealed an old six-shooter. Meg's breath caught in her throat. The Colt.

Abaddon smiled and ran a hand through Dean's hair. "Thanks, darling. This is a dangerous item to leave lying around." She stood up and inspected the gun as Dean glared daggers at her.

"All right, listen up," she said, addressing all of them. "This is how it's going to go." She cocked the gun and trained it on all four of them in turn. Meg's heart stopped as the barrel slid over in her direction and then toward Cas. She knew it wouldn't kill an angel, but with his grace so low, she didn't want to know what it would do to him.

"One of you is going to cooperate and tell me where Crowley is," she said. "Or I start shooting and carving you up. And knowing you, someone will say something eventually. All of you are so sickeningly co-dependent." She stopped with the gun pointed at Dean. "So, what's it going to be?"

"Crowley's gone," Dean said firmly, shifting on his knees. "He dropped us here and split. Probably his idea all along to let us get captured. I have no clue where he is, but you're welcome to shoot him if you find him."

Abaddon nodded slowly. "Yes, or…" She swiftly turned the gun away from Dean and shot.

Sam cried out in shock and pain, toppling to one side as blood plumed across his right thigh.

"Sammy!" Dean cried, fighting against his manacles to help his brother. He turned to snarl back at Abaddon. "You bitch!"

Abaddon shrugged. "Works just as well on humans, it seems." With a swift move, Abaddon pulled the bullets out of the gun and went over to a drain in the floor, dropping them down it. "Oops," she said coyly as the tinkle of bullets could be heard.

"No!" Cas and Dean both cried and Meg watched, transfixed as the pieces of silver that would have stopped all of this disappeared down the drain.

Abaddon tossed the gun to one side carelessly. "So, now that your last hope to kill me is gone, your best bet is to tell me what I want to know. Then I might decide to be merciful and give you a quick death."

"We already told you we don't know where Crowley is!" Sam gasped out.

"You keep saying that, but I bet given the right leverage, you could make an educated guess." Abaddon nodded to Damian and he suddenly strode over to Meg wrenching her head back and pressing a knife to her throat.

"No, Meg!" Cas cried before Abaddon punched him across the face.

"You boys are always into saving the damsels in distress, right?" she asked the Winchesters. "I know the angel is nauseatingly fond of Meg here, but maybe you are too?"

Damian pressed with the knife and Meg felt blood drip down her throat along with the burn of a cut made from an angel blade. She could barely breathe for fear of the blade cutting deeper.

"Leave her alone," Dean said firmly.

"Hm," Abaddon said musingly. "They don't protest very heavily, do they?" She turned back to Meg. "So, I'm going to give you one last chance to prove yourself. You agree to kill one of them, I'll give you one more chance to join me. I'll even let you keep the halo as your little love slave."

Meg took a shuddering breath, meeting Abaddon's eyes. This was a calculated risk, but…it may be their only shot. It would at least get her out of the chains and then maybe she could subdue Abaddon long enough for them to make their escape…

"Fine," Meg snapped.

"What?" Dean demanded. "What the hell, Meg?"

They were both watching her, as well as Castiel, but the angel had a more calculating look. She wet her lips and played the role. "I'll do it, Abaddon. Let me out."

Abaddon nodded to Damian and he growled slightly before he pulled the dagger from her throat and started undoing her bindings. Meg stood up slowly, rubbing her wrists. The key from the manacles was still in her hand. She reached up to pretend to wipe blood from her lip and quickly slid the key in her mouth to tuck it into her cheek.

"But just one thing," she said and strode over to Cas who watched her with a frown between his brows. She reached up and touched his cheek with one hand. "I'm sorry," she whispered then winked and leaned forward to kiss him. She pushed the key into his mouth and then pulled away, making sure to meet his eyes. He gave her a slight nod.

"Alright, let's do this," she said turning back toward Abaddon.

The Knight nodded and handed her an angel blade. Meg turned toward the Winchesters and took slow, deliberate steps over to them, trying to drag this out as much as possible, giving Cas more time to escape. Luckily it seemed like all attention was on her. Demons always liked a show.

Dean shifted closer to Sam, and Meg felt a stab in her chest as she saw actual fear in his eyes. Sam too looked somewhat uncertain, but it was hard to tell past the lines of pain on his face.

"Meg, what the hell are you doing?" Dean demanded, yanking at his manacles.

"Sorry, Dean, but I have always looked after myself, and I'm not going to stop now." She had too, always. Until she met Castiel and joined up with him and the Winchesters, then she hadn't had to anymore. And she'd also learned to look after other people. Which is exactly what she was doing now.

She reached down and grabbed Dean by the front of his coat, hauling him onto his knees. She met his eyes as she placed the blade into the hollow of his throat and she heard Sam's breath catch. Dean glowered up at her, until she gave him the smallest smile and winked, then his look turned understanding. He flicked his gaze behind her and Meg didn't turn, but she was sure Cas was making headway with his manacles.

"Well?" Abaddon asked impatiently, striding up behind Meg. "I'm waiting."

"Yeah, about that," Meg said. "I'm gonna have to take a rain check." She spun around, releasing Dean as she swung the angel blade back-handed and drove it into Abaddon's stomach.

The Knight of Hell gasped and staggered backwards. Damian ran toward her but she shoved him aside as she yanked the blade out of her gut. Her eyes turned black and she snarled.

"Oh, honey, you just made a huge mistake." She flung her hand up and Meg felt the thud of power against her chest, sending her sailing backwards to slam into the far wall and collapse onto the floor. She rolled several feet and barely got to her hands and knees before Abaddon was on her, driving a foot into her stomach and sending her back against the wall.

"You little bitch," she snarled. "You think you can defeat me? That you can cross me? You think I'm that stupid?"

Meg smirked up at her, blood dripping down her lip. "Well, you were the one who offered me another chance. I think that makes you pretty stupid."

Abaddon let out a shriek of anger and kicked her hard in the face. Meg saw stars, and Abaddon grabbed a fistful of her hair, hauling her up and slamming her against the wall.

"You think they'll take you back?" Abaddon demanded, slamming her back against the wall again. "Stop fighting what you are! Stop pretending you're one of the good guys. How long do you think it will really last? You can't fight your darkness forever."

"Maybe not," Meg grunted. "But I can at least kill you."

Abaddon laughed, "Seriously? You're going to try that again?"

She choked then, as a blade pierced her throat. Meg's rescuer yanked it out and threw Abaddon to one side. The glow of a halo was in her vision and Meg's angel stood there, fierce, and covered in blood with his shirt still ripped open, and damn she really didn't need to think about what this was doing to her right now.

"My unicorn," she managed to say.

Castiel smiled and took her hand, pulling her toward him.

Abaddon was getting up and she was pissed. The other demons were standing around with their blades at the ready, but the Knight of Hell spun on them in fury.

"Kill them, you damned idiots!" she rasped, her hand clutching the hole Castiel had made in her throat.

Damian and the others rushed forward. The Winchesters were struggling on the ground still. She could see Dean working on his manacles awkwardly backwards and figured Castiel must have passed the key along.

"The Colt!" he yelled at them.

It was then that the doors slammed open and more demons piled in, but instead of joining the fight, they just stood there.

Everything stopped for a minute, Abaddon looked up, even more pissed, before her eyes widened.

Slow footsteps clacked across the floor and Crowley suddenly appeared, hands clasped behind his back. "Heard you were looking for me?"

Abaddon growled. "You little bastard!" she snarled.

And then it was a full-on skirmish. Crowley's demons rushed Abaddon's and started going at each other. More of Abaddon's men came into the room, but didn't get anywhere. Dean had gotten himself free of the cuffs and was dragging Sam to one side of the room so he wouldn't get trampled. Meg grabbed a dropped angel blade and started looking for the Colt, her and Castiel fighting back to back. Abaddon was going directly after Crowley herself and shockingly, the King of Hell was holding his own.

A grunt sounded out behind her, and Meg spun around to see Cas lying on the floor, stunned, and Damian in his place. Her breath caught in her throat as he leered at her.

"Finally," he said. "I got you alone."

Meg snarled and lashed out with her blade, but he caught her wrist and twisted, forcing her to release it as his own blade pressed against her throat. He shoved her back against the wall and pressed his body close to her, hemming her in. "I've been looking forward to this," he hissed close to her ear, his mouth grazing her skin. She struggled, but he forced her back, taking both her wrists in one hand and pinning them above her head. "Uh-uh," he tsked, tracing his blade down her throat to her chest. "I've been waiting for this for a long time. You know you're not strong enough to fight me off."

She growled as he teased the knife at the collar of her shirt. "You know, I would have been so much better than your halo too. But you'll never get to find out now. Because I'm going to kill you, Meg, and hell, I'm going to enjoy it."

"Not on my watch."

Castiel's arm wrapped around Damian's neck and yanked him backwards. Meg wasted no time in kicking him in the balls. Damian yelped and doubled over and Meg snatched the angel blade from Castiel's hand and simply drove it into Damian's gut. He cried out and fell to the ground, Meg going with him, straddling him and stabbing him over and over again with the blade.

"You can go to hell, you bastard!" she snarled. "I've been waiting for this, and hell, I'm enjoying it!"

"Meg!" She barely heard Cas calling her name until he physically dragged her off of Damian's destroyed meatsuit and held her tightly in his firm grip. She struggled at first, but he turned her around, pressing her face into chest, his mouth against her temple.

"Meg, he's dead, stop," he murmured against her skin.

Meg gasped for breath and finally sagged against him, feeling his grace more sharply. She could feel her darkness rising, the demonic energy pounding through her. She knew her eyes were black and she closed them, taking several deep breaths, before Cas pulled her back and looked down at her.

"It's okay," he murmured, taking her face in both his hands.

Meg let out a deep breath and allowed her eyes to change back. She was still shaking from adrenaline, but she nodded. "Sorry," she whispered.

Castiel smiled, stroking her hair. "You're okay, now."

"Cas! Meg!"

They suddenly remembered that there was a fight going on and spun around. Dean was holding off several of Abaddon's demons, planting himself in front of Sam who was on the ground behind him, clutching his bleeding leg and a knife in the other hand.

Cas scrambled for his angel blade on the ground and they jumped into the fray.

As Cas went to the Winchesters' aid, Meg glanced around and saw the Colt lying under a table where Abaddon had tossed it. She surged forward, taking out one demon who got in her way and snatched it up.

"Meg!" Sam called as he saw she had the Colt and she slid it across the floor to him. He snatched it and reached into his coat, tearing the lining and spilling out a handful of bullets. Meg laughed in relief. Of course they would have had a plan b.

But the fight was winding down. Abaddon seemed to have gotten the upper hand on Crowley, and had forced him back against the wall. The King of Hell looked a little worse for wear, his suit rumpled, several cuts showing through. Abaddon held him there with an angel blade to his throat and turned toward the fighting demons.

"I have your king," she said and the fighting stopped as they all turned to look. "Surrender to me, and I might show mercy if you profess your loyalty to your new queen."

The demons glanced around at each other. Crowley stayed still, but he was glancing over at the Winchesters.

"No," Dean said, striding through the demons to stand directly in front of Abaddon. Meg saw the Colt in his hand, pressed against the small of his back. "You will not be the new queen. You're going to die."

Abaddon chuckled. She flung Crowley away from her and the King of Hell crashed onto the floor in a heap. "Come on, Dean, you tried this already. It didn't go so well for you last time. You and your brother will be lucky if I keep you around long enough to peel the skin from your flesh. Unless you reconsidered my offer of letting me use that delicious body of yours as my new vessel."

Dean's mouth quirked up. "Well, sweetheart, you still didn't buy me that drink. You know I'm not that easy."

"My Queen! He has the Colt!" one of the demons shouted.

Meg watched in horror as Abaddon snarled and flung her hand out, flinging Dean backwards onto the ground. The gun spun across the floor as she strode forward the planted a foot in his chest. Dean grunted and attempted to get off the floor, but she only ground her heel into him.

"Dean!" Sam cried, trying to stand, but his leg was obviously unable to take any weight. Cas grabbed him and eased him back to the ground.

"Or, I can just get rid of you now and save myself the trouble," Abaddon said, raising her blade.

Meg skidded across the floor, grabbing the Colt and regaining her feet as she pointed it directly at the Knight of Hell. "Long live the queen," she said mockingly and pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit Abaddon in the center of her chest and she gasped, staggering back as it sparked. Dean rolled away and Meg shot again, this time right in the center of Abaddon's forehead. Her head snapped back and she screamed as bolts of power sparked through her body, then with a final jolt, she collapsed, her eyes burned out.

There was silence in the room. Meg stood panting, holding the gun. Dean scrambled to his feet and strode over to her, breathless, but he gripped her shoulder gratefully.

Crowley climbed to his feet and dusted his suit off, straightening it as much as possible before he turned to the gathered demons who were all staring at Abaddon's corpse.

"Well, I think it's obvious," he said. "I'm the king again. Anyone who has a problem with that can be subjected to the firing squad." He glanced at Meg and she glowered back at him, but didn't relinquish the gun.

Crowley held his hands out to the sides. "Now, kneel and swear fealty to me, your king."

The demons glanced at each other, but eventually all of them knelt. Crowley smiled.

"Feels good to be back," he said.

Meg and Dean went over to Cas and Sam. Dean knelt and helped his brother to his feet, supporting his weight and Castiel touched Meg's arm gently. She looked up to meet his eyes, a thousand emotions rioting in her that she couldn't make any sense of right now. She felt a storm inside of her and had no idea how to quell it. Castiel seemed to understand and said nothing, only pulling her against him.

"Let's get the hell out of here," Dean said, shifting Sam toward the door.

Crowley cocked an eyebrow at them.

"Leaving so soon?" he asked.

"You're welcome," Dean muttered. "Don't call on us again."

Crowley huffed, then added. "By the way, I left your giant hunk of metal outside for you."

Dean looked surprised, then angry, and turned to glower at the demon who simply smiled.

"You're welcome," Crowley snarked.

"Oh, and Crowley," Sam added. "Those souls Abaddon was farming…I would let them go if I were you."

"Of course, of course," Crowley said dismissively.

Dean grunted and rolled his eyes. "Let's go home."

The rest of them nodded gratefully. Home sounded like a good idea.

 


	9. Chapter 9

Castiel leaned back wearily against the familiar seat of the Impala. He could feel his grace finally working on his wounds, if not sluggishly. It would probably be a couple days before they were completely healed but they had scabbed over at least. They had all patched each other up before they left; though luckily the bullet wound in Sam's leg was the worst injury between them and though Castiel hadn't been able to heal it completely, he had stopped the bleeding once Dean had dug the bullet out. Hopefully when he recovered he would be able to finish the job.

But what mattered most now was that it was over. They had actually defeated Abaddon.

Well, Castiel corrected himself, she may be dead but this wasn't over. It never really was. Crowley was still out there, and he had no idea how long their apparent truce would last, not to mention the fact that there were other scars to be repaired.

Castiel glanced over at Meg. She had been looking out the window silently the whole drive and Castiel hadn't known what to do. He had helped her clean her cuts but after that she had seemed to shut down. Maybe she was in shock, maybe it was something else. He'd heard what Abaddon had said to her, and that bastard Damian…fury overcame him and his hand clenched into a fist. He didn't blame Meg for stabbing the demon multiple times. He would have done the same thing if she hadn't gotten to him first.

Whatever it was, Castiel knew Meg was suffering, and he felt helpless, unsure of how to fix it. He wanted to simply hold her, tell her how beautiful she was and how much he loved her, but she hadn't sought out his comfort and he was afraid of doing something wrong. He supposed he first needed to figure out exactly what was going on with her before he could fix her problems, and Meg was almost as bad as Dean when it came to talking about her feelings—though to be fair, she had been getting better. They all had, as a matter of fact. He supposed that's what happened when you went through so many traumatic experiences together.

By the time they got back to the bunker, Sam was dozing in the passenger seat and Castiel felt exhaustion creeping through him too, along with the relief and the worry over Meg.

Dean heaved a weary sigh as he parked the Impala in the garage and leaned back into the seat with relief. "Thank god we're back. I could sleep for a week." He nudged Sam's shoulder to get him to wake up and Castiel got out of the car to help Dean get Sam inside.

He glanced over at Meg who was already moving inside, arms crossed over her chest.

"Meg?" he asked tentatively. "Are you okay?"

She flashed him a small smile, but it didn't make it to her eyes. "I'm just…I'm really tired. I'm going to go try to rest."

Castiel opened his mouth to say something else, but she was already disappearing into the stairwell and Dean was at his side, helping him maneuver Sam out of the car.

"Easy," Dean told his brother.

Sam huffed a breath, but his pale features told how much his leg still hurt. He slipped his arms over Castiel and Dean's shoulders.

"I'll make it," he muttered.

"Sam, I'm sorry I couldn't heal it completely," Castiel said, wrapping his arm firmly around Sam's waist to keep him steady.

"Cas, no, it's fine, you're hurt too," Sam assured him with a small grateful smile. "Thanks for keeping me from bleeding out though."

Castiel smiled back tiredly and they began the long trek into the bunker and the dormitory wing.

Once they had deposited Sam onto his bed, Dean went to grab some pain pills for Sam as Castiel helped the younger Winchester into clean clothes. By the time Sam had taken the medicine he was almost asleep again and Dean turned his lamp off for him.

"Just holler if you need anything," he said as he and Castiel left.

Castiel glanced down the hall to Meg's room at the end and hesitated. He didn't know why he suddenly felt so awkward, so unqualified to help her.

"Cas, you good?" Dean asked. "I'm gonna go take a shower and then hit the sack."

"Yeah," Castiel murmured, and then turned to his friend as Dean started away. "Dean…"

Dean turned, eyebrow raised expectantly. "Yeah?"

Castiel shifted uncomfortably. "I don't…I don't know how to help Meg. Should I leave her to herself, should I talk to her…?"

Dean glanced down the hallway and then back at Castiel. "Cas, what we went through today was rough, but I saw how Abaddon treated her, I heard what she said…you can tell Meg's struggling with it. I don't think she should be alone with that right now."

Castiel shrugged helplessly. "But I don't know what to say. What if I make it worse?"

Dean reached out and gripped his shoulder. "You won't, Cas. You love her, okay? I know Meg's independent, but that doesn't mean she doesn't need support from the people who care about her. She needs to know that now, more than ever. She needs you, man. It's not gonna mean the same coming from us."

Castiel nodded, remembering their conversation that night after they had killed Naomi. Meg had asked him why he didn't think she was repulsive like the other angels did. It was strange, because he had never thought that about her. Other demons, yes, he'd smote thousands during his time as a soldier of Heaven and hunting with the Winchesters, but even when he'd first met Meg, back during the Apocalypse, he couldn't say that was his first impression of her. Perhaps, even then, he had seen the spark of who she really was underneath that darkness, and that was a very unique demon. Some might say broken. Just like what Naomi had called him. Castiel was more than just a fallen angel, he was wrong. Meg was derided for the same thing as a demon. When he thought of it like that, it made sense why they had been so attracted to each other, why they had both ended up here, in this little family that Dean called Team Free Will where all the other misfits ended up. They had both been soldiers fighting for causes, but when the devotion faded and the true plans were revealed, they had found a better way, something different to fight for, and they had found each other in doing so.

But right now she needed to be reminded of that. She needed to know that he would never let her go or cast her aside. He needed to give her a token of solidarity. A pledge to tell her how much she truly meant to him.

Castiel took a deep breath and smiled at Dean. "Thank you, Dean. I believe you're right."

Dean offered a small smile, clapping him on the shoulder. "Go get her, tiger."

Castiel frowned slightly, but started off down the hall with new determination. He knew exactly how he could show Meg just how much he loved her. And how much she was loved.

~~~~~~~~

Meg closed the door behind her and sank onto the bed, wearily. Heavy of body and soul right now, feeling all incredibly too human. Her hand shook slightly as she recalled the fight, how she had gone berserk on Damian—that bastard deserved it, but still. She hadn't liked the high it gave her. What Abaddon said about her powers and why they were so weak lately…she had thought as much, and yet, not all she feared was feeling those demonic powers come back. She couldn't help but remember Sam and Dean's faces when she had convinced Abaddon she would kill one of them. For a split second she knew they had actually believed her, and that had stung more than she wanted to admit. She had begun to consider them allies, friends, and seeing that look of fear and betrayal in Dean's face, even if only for a second, had struck her to the core.

She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the slight sting of her healing wounds. If she rested they would probably be fine the next day, but she couldn't rest. She didn't want the dreams to come.

There were light footsteps at the door and a soft knock before it opened. She didn't have to look up to know it was Cas, she could feel his grace. She couldn't look at him now, not because she didn't want to, but because she didn't want to see the pity on his face. She curled into herself even more, her hair blocking her view of him. She wanted him there so badly, and yet she didn't. Why was she so damn conflicted? She wanted him to hold her, wanted to feel safe in his arms, and yet was afraid that his touching her would spread her darkness to him.

He closed the door softly and came into the room. She felt Castiel tentatively sit next to her, brushing his shoulder slightly against hers.

"Meg…" he began but she shook her head.

"Stop," she protested instantly, standing up. She couldn't stand to be near him right now. Couldn't stand the thought of her…corruption touching him. He was too pure to be around her. She had always known that deep down. Known that the forbiddeness of their relationship was forbidden for a good reason. She'd hoped in some naïve way that his purity, his love, could fix her, offer her absolution, but it seemed that wasn't the case after all. She was just as filthy, just as damned as she had always been.

"Stop fighting what you are," Abaddon's words came back to her. "Stop pretending you're one of the good guys. How long do you think it will really last? You can't fight your darkness forever."

"Meg, what Abaddon said, it wasn't true," Cas told her, cutting straight to the point.

She shook her head. "It is and you know it. I know you do. You see me, the real me! How can you even stand to look at me?!" she demanded, spinning around and turning her eyes black for good measure so she could remind him of the monster she was. "Knowing what I've done. How can you possibly love me?"

Castiel cocked his head to one side, looking distressed. "Meg, I told you it is because I see past the darkness to what is truly inside. You are a completely different person than you were back when you were fighting for Azazel and Lucifer. Besides, the fact that her words bother you so much tells me that it isn't you."

"But it could be," she said bitterly.

"It could be all of us; we all have darkness in us," Castiel insisted. He stepped closer to her and touched her cheek. She tried not to pull away. It wasn't him; she didn't want him to think that. It was because she was afraid that just the act of touching her with any kindness would eventually destroy him.

"But my very soul is corrupt," she reminded him. "I'm a demon, Castiel!"

He cocked his head to one side with a very fond and somewhat pained look in his eyes. "Technically, yes, but you are more than just a demon. Trust me, I've seen a lot of demons, and you…" he traced his fingers down to her left breast and settled them over her heart. "You are roses and thorns, beauty with the darkness. Even the darkest nights have stars, Meg."

"Remember what I said about poetry, Clarence?" she scoffed softly and looked at the ground, unable to meet his eyes, blushing.

"Just…please," he said and finally pulled her against his chest. She let him. "Have a little faith. Believe me."

She exhaled and slumped against him, weariness overcoming her. She felt the warm safety of him, the electric currents of his grace, somewhat weakened from his exhaustion, but comforting to her. She almost felt she shouldn't give in to this, but she couldn't help herself. He held her for a long moment before he pushed her back, meeting her eyes. Castiel cleared his throat.

"Meg, there's something I…there's something I want to show you."

She looked up at him, and saw a slightly uncomfortable look on his face, but determination in his eyes. She frowned, her curiosity cutting back on her distress.

To her surprise, he slipped out of his trench coat and tie then stated to unbutton his shirt, slipping it from his shoulders to join his coat on the desk. Meg raised an eyebrow, and Cas' cheeks reddened, making her stomach flip involuntarily.

"What? Are you a virgin again all of a sudden?" she couldn't help but ask.

Cas blushed more furiously, but shook his head. "I told you, I want to show you something. I want to…share something with you."

Meg smirked slightly now, unable to truly be upset when she had her angel blushing and shirtless in front of her. "We've already shared lots of things, Clarence."

He growled at her softly. "Stop, or I won't be able to do this," he told her and she made a point to press her lips together. He sighed, then met her eyes directly. "Meg, I…I know you can see my true form like I can see yours, but an angel's true essence, it is culminated in our wings. That is why we rarely ever bring them out onto the physical plane. It makes us very vulnerable." He shifted nervously and licked his lips. "But it's also something we can share with the people who we care for the most. And I…I want you to see them."

Meg was floored. She stared at him open-mouthed. "But…but I'm a demon! That's not exactly orthodox, is it?"

Castiel smiled slightly. "Nothing about us is exactly orthodox."

Meg bit her lip, but nodded. "Please," was all she could say.

Castiel nodded and then closed his eyes. He rolled his shoulders and there was a slight high-pitched ringing and then a pop of dispersed space and all of a sudden there were two glossy, huge wings arching above Castiel's shoulders. Meg gasped, taking a step back, unable to help herself.

She could always see their ethereal outlines, of course, a ripple that followed Castiel everywhere, but this…this was something else. His wings were jet black, shot through with iridescent colors that glimmered in the dim lamplight. They were powerful, and perfect, and beautiful and they were so much part of Castiel, she could feel them singing with his essence—thunder, rainwater and dew.

He caught her hands and she realized only then that she had been about to fall, stunned by a sight no demon had seen and lived through.

He smiled at her slightly as he held her upright. "Overwhelmed?"

She only continued to gape. Castiel pulled her closer to him, as he shifted his wings into a resting position so that they took up less room. But they were no less spectacular.

"Meg," he said solemnly, his voice rumbling from his chest into hers. "This is me giving all of myself to you. Never think I will not accept who you are because I see all of you and you are beautiful." His fingers traced down to her heart again, so gentle she shivered. Then he took her hand in his. "You can touch them, you know," he said.

She shook her head. "No," she said, suddenly terrified, pulling away from him. "No, I can't! I'll only corrupt you…"

"Meg," he said softly, his eyes so sincere she nearly collapsed again. "Please."

She swallowed hard, afraid she was making a terrible mistake, but he was so insistent and he had said he was giving all of himself to her. How could she refuse when she truly cared for him so much?

She took a shuddering breath and slipped behind him, careful not to brush against his wings prematurely. Something inside her knew this must be wrong, so wrong, a demon daring to touch an angel's wings. Perhaps she would fall to dust, or worse, perhaps Castiel's feathers would disintegrate to ash as if they had been touched with Hellfire—and she had seen what Hellfire did to angels.

But Cas' wings had already been touched by Hellfire. She could still see the scars from when he had rescued Dean and later Sam. And there were some ragged feathers here and there, but that did nothing to destroy their beauty. The scars only made him more beautiful in her eyes, telling the tale that this angel was a powerful warrior. And she certainly had a good collection of her own scars.

Gently, she reached up and settled her hand against his spine, fingers tracing the smooth, tanned skin there. He shivered slightly at her soft touch, he was always so sensitive there, even when his wings weren't corporeal, and then she slowly made her way to the base of one powerful wing, and slid her fingers up against it.

Castiel inhaled sharply, and she drew her fingers back, terrified for a moment, but his wings didn't turn to ash, she hadn't been burned. She had simply felt his essence rushing through her. An electric spark, like the charged air during a thunderstorm. The same feeling as when they kissed, when they made love, but more powerful, concentrated. Pure. Mesmerized, by that feeling, and Cas' reaction, she carefully traced her fingers up the arm of his wing, feeling Cas shiver in a good way. Then she allowed her hand to travel down the slick feathers, glossy and soft, but strong as iron, her fingers sliding through them and causing Castiel to let out one breathless word.

"Meg."

She moved to stand in front of him then so she could see his face. His eyes met hers with such adoration it made her heart ache, but this time in a good way. She truly felt worthy of his love now. She reached around his torso, and settled her hands on his wings, stroking gently and this time, since she wasn't afraid of hurting him, she allowed herself to enjoy his pleased shudders, and the sharp intakes of breath as she buried her fingers in the feathers, feeling more and more of his powerful essence seep into her. His hands were on her, softly touching. One slid into her hair and she sighed, craning her head back into his hand. She rose to her toes and kissed him, the feeling of him even more intense. While their lips still met, Cas simply picked her up and moved them both to the bed so that they were sitting there in the middle. Her hands continued to explore his wings as he methodically undressed her, his own hands never leaving her body, a constant reassurance that he did not find her repulsive, until he finally laid her back and kissed his way across her skin.

"I love you," he whispered against her neck before moving to press his lips against her heart where he had told her he saw a rose. His wings curved down and his feathers traced electric trails across her bare skin. Her body shuddered with pleasure knowing, feeling, that he meant it when he added almost reverently, "I love all of you."

And then in the quiet of that little room in the vast bunker, they made love under a canopy of black feathers.

~~~~~~~~

Meg woke, warm, comfortable, and surrounded by Castiel. They had fallen into a resting state after their lovemaking and Cas had simply draped one of his wings across her body, the soft black feathers tickling her skin gently. Her cheek was pressed against his bare chest, and she could feel the hum of his grace flowing through him. She stayed like that for a few moments before she let out a long sigh of pleasure and pulled back slightly to look up into his face.

Blue eyes stared back at her, a glowing contentment in his expression that she had never seen before.

"Hi," she murmured, a smile pulling at her lips.

"Good morning," Cas replied, his hand coming up to rest in the curve of her waist and just his soft touch was enough to send desire coursing through her again. She would never get over the fact that this angel could make her feel so undone. "Last night…it was…" he began then stopped as if searching for the right words.

"Amazing," Meg breathed. "Thank you." She didn't have to say what for. He knew. She reached up to slide her fingers through his glossy feathers again, and felt the delicious shiver run through Cas' body as she did. She bit her lip and closed her eyes as she remembered last night. The experience had been like making love to him for the first time all over again, but with an even more confident Castiel, and well, he had truly managed to bring her out of her dark place, make her feel worthy to be loved by a creature as amazing as he was. Something she never would have dreamed she deserved without Castiel showing her that she truly did.

He slipped a hand behind her head and pressed his lips to hers before he rolled her so that she was facing away from him and pulled her flush with his body, curling his wing around her so she was warm and felt safer and more comfortable than she ever had. Meg exhaled contentedly.

"How are you feeling?" Castiel asked her, his chest rumbling against her back.

"Better than I was," Meg said. "My wounds are healing too. How about you?"

"The same," Castiel told her and they simply lay there contentedly for a few long moments. Meg wasn't sure what time it was, but she didn't really care. If she had her way she would stay in Castiel's arms forever.

"You know we'll have to get up eventually," she finally said half-heartedly.

"Sam and Dean are still sleeping," Cas told her, his face pressed into her hair. He nudged it aside with his nose and kissed the back of her neck. "We can stay here for a little longer. We deserve it."

Meg smiled and rolled over so she was facing him again, cocking her eyebrow and smirking. "Well, in that case…"

She kissed him and then nudged him to roll onto his back, before she straddled him and reached out to caress his wings. Castiel melted under her and they indulged in a few long moments of blissful pleasure before they curled up together again. Meg tucked her face into the crook of his neck and traced her fingers down his chest and the flat, muscled planes of his stomach.

"What do we do now?" she asked. "Now that we've saved the world again?"

"The world is never truly saved," Castiel reminded her. "There will always be monsters to hunt."

"Good," Meg said, with a small smile. "I think I kind of like this job. I mean, it does have its perks. I'm rather fond of my co-workers."

Castiel chuckled. "Me too."

Meg heard a door close down the hallway and the sound of movement. "That sounds like the boys are awake. I guess we should probably get up. I could actually really go for some pancakes."

Castiel smiled and kissed her one more time before she slid out of the bed to grab some clothes. When she had finished changing, she turned to see Cas had put his wings back onto the ethereal plane to put his shirt on and she was somewhat sad about that. She crossed the room to him and ran her hand down the center of his back, gaining a shiver. "You know, Clarence, I think you're possibly even sexier when you're feathered."

Castiel turned around, a small smile on his lips. "Well, I actually kind of think the black eyes are pretty…sexy…too."

Meg flashed a smile and teasingly flicked her eyes to black for a moment. "Well, there's more where that came from, Halo."

She glanced towards the bed and saw a single black feather lying in the mussed sheets. She picked it up and ran her finger over it. It still felt like Cas. She cast a glance at him and tied her hair up before sticking the feather into it. Cas smiled as he pulled his coat on and then took her hand.

"Let's go see if we can convince Dean to make pancakes," he told her.

Dean was indeed up, already bustling around the kitchen, and the smell of coffee wafted out into the halls. He looked a little worse for wear, bruises decorating his face, but then, they all did. He glanced up as they came in, looking between their clasped hands and the feather Meg had stuck in her hair. He smirked with a gleam in his eye.

"Well, looks like you two had a good night."

Meg smirked back at him as she and Cas took a seat at the table. "We did. And don't worry, Dean, Cas had his angel blade."

Dean snorted and Cas glanced between them with a longsuffering look. "I still don't understand why that's so amusing."

Meg squeezed his hand and kissed his cheek as she stood to get coffee. "We were wondering if there were pancakes on the menu," she asked Dean, raising an eyebrow.

He rolled his eyes slightly, but nodded. "There can be." He grabbed the ingredients and then turned back to them as Meg sat down with the coffee. "How're you two doing anyway?"

"We'll both recover," Cas assured him and Meg nodded.

Dean nodded back and started mixing the batter before he poured the first pancake into the hot pan. "Hey, um, Meg," he said turning around and leaning against the counter. "About yesterday…I'm sorry if for a second I kind of didn't believe you were still with us. I should have trusted you more."

Meg shrugged. It still stung a little, but she knew she could get over that. "Hey, it sold the performance. And the whole plan crashed and burned anyway. I'm surprised we got out of there alive."

"Still," Dean said seriously. "I shouldn't have doubted you. And I won't again."

Meg gave him a grateful look just as Sam hobbled in on a crutch they had found in the infirmary.

"Hey, there's the gimp," Meg greeted him.

Sam shot her the famous bitchface as Castiel got up to help him onto one of the seats. "How's the leg, Sam?" the angel asked.

"Sore, but I'll be fine," Sam said. "I'm really hungry, though."

"Well, pancakes are on the way," Dean said, pouring another one into the pan. Meg grabbed Sam some coffee and soon they were all sitting down enjoying Dean's homemade pancakes.

"So, what's the next job?" Meg broached, spreading peanut butter on hers before pouring on the syrup. "Who are we saving or stopping next?"

Dean groaned. "Hopefully no one for a couple days. I think we could all use a little time to recuperate." He glanced over at Cas. "Plus, I believe Cas owes you a date?"

Meg turned to him with a smirk. "That's right! We were supposed to go on a date if we survived."

Cas smiled back at her. "Just let me know when and where."

Meg contentedly went back to eating her pancakes along with the others.

"I was actually thinking that we should go through all the stuff here in the archives and start categorizing it," Sam said. "I thought I could call Charlie, have her help me make an online database of all the files here so we can look stuff up when we're away from home."

"That's a good idea," Cas agreed. "And there's hundreds of boxes full of artifacts in the storage rooms. It might be profitable to go through all of them—who knows what we might find."

"Really? Organizing?" Dean asked blandly. He and Meg shared a longsuffering look. Maybe they could go on the next hunt and leave Sam and Cas to their scholarly pursuits.

But at the same time, Meg was just glad to be here with her friends, and her angel. She'd taken a long road to it, but she thought she had finally found where she belonged. And no matter what came next, she had people to watch her back. She wasn't alone anymore.

She had family.


End file.
